PHILosophy
by MelNinja
Summary: Logan or Alec? She'd already pushed them both away and given one enough false hope to make him think he could have world domination in a day. Torn between her limited choices, Max needs help and fast. Luckily for her, good old Phil is back in town... MA.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Dark Angel but I DO think it IS fantoostic!

A/N: hello. Just saying that conversation B (not that there's A) between Logan and Max is a partial re-write of hello goodbye, because my story looks at what might've happened if she had denied it.

**_Phil_osophy!**

CHAPTER 1: further apart

Alec was soaring through space in his silver streamline, 17-sided, quadruple-booster engine-ed rocket ship; blasting all of the 5-legged, 3-eyed, 6-fisted aliens that popped out in front of him. He briefly meandered though an asteroid field and dodged past a black hole. He cruised through the sparkling, starry infinity with ease; pleased with his ever-increasing high-score. Unfortunately for him, Max walked in, patting him on the shoulder and crying out cheerily,

"Morning, Alec!" Startled, he lost his focus, getting the fright of his life and leaping about 4 feet in the air whilst yelping out in surprise. A canny alien foe took advantage of this and shot a plasma zip-zap at Alec's face. 'GAME OVER!'

"Awww, man! And I was going to beat Mole's high score! Darn that scaly scumbag… And Max would you please stop doing that; you know I don't like surprises!" Alec moaned, rubbing his head and, in effect ruffling his own hair. He dusted himself off and regarded Max with an expectant look,

"Do I get a sorry or not?"

"In your dreams Alec! Besides you should be happy to see me!"

"Oh yeah? Why's that?"

Max scanned the arcade they were standing in with wary eyes. She felt along the walls with her fingertips and listened closely with her genetically-enhanced-hearing; creeping around on her tiptoes.

"Max what are you doing, checking to see if anyone's listening? Because I can assure you, everyone left after they heard this used to be S1W's hideout. Didn't want any trouble I suppose,"

"Uhuh," Max responded absentmindedly, she then stopped dead in the far left corner of the dusty, dirty, derelict arcade.

"Yep, just what I thought. I think it's best that you don't come down here anymore, Alec, looks like they got this place bugged and if white and his little government nitwits see this footage who knows what they'll do to you. Must be thinking the S1W would come back,"

She found the blinking red light on the bug and put it out by jabbing it with her thumb. She then thought twice about what she said and quickly added,

"I-It'd mean exposure for all of us if you got yourself arrested, again."

On no account must he know about the way she felt…

"What do you mean by that? 'Get myself arrested again'? It wasn't my fault I got caught, was it?"

"Well, no, but you could've tried a little harder to lay low, it's not so much to ask is it?"

"I am trying but you just don't…" Alec trailed off, shuffling his feet and staring at the ground.

"Don't what, Alec?" Max glared at Alec, forcing and willing him to look her straight in the eyes. Alec saw just what he expected to see. Anger, frustration, disappointment and something else that he hadn't expected. Regret. It wasn't easy to see but if you watched her closely, which Alec tended to do when he didn't understand Max or why she did the things she did, it showed… for a few seconds anyway.

"Forget it. Why did you actually come down here, Max?"

"Oh yes, right well," Max started looking relieved that the tension between them had been somewhat released, "You left your gloves at my place last time you visited…"

"Right. Thanks." Alec snatched the gloves out of Max's hand and stuffed them into his ash grey sports bag and slung it over his shoulder. "See ya, Max." Alec said gruffly on his way out. Max was about to stop him when she thought better of it and instead decided to watch him walk away. If she went after him, he'd get suspicious. But if she let him walk away then it would make him think she didn't care which, although it hurt her more than him, would keep him away; but then again would that really benefit him or even her at all?

_3 days earlier… _

_I should go and give it to him personally. _Max told herself, as she clung to the shadows of a nearby block of flats (you can never be too careful). _Come on, what could possibly go wrong? _Yeah right. He could die of the genetically engineered retro virus, hanging about just waiting to pounce, in my bloodstream. We could argue again about whether this quirky little relationship of ours is worth fighting for. We could have a lying contest and see who wins; it happens frequently enough without us even trying. Or I could even risk my life and do something patriotic, whilst Logan pretends to worry about me when the only thing he ever cared about was playing the hero. So it's days like these that I wish I didn't love him. Love sucks alright.

Max watched the designer ceiling lights with goldy-yellow pyramid lamp shades dim gradually and then switch off. Just the sight she was secretly hoping for. _He's asleep now, so I won't wake him. I'll just sneak in, do my business and get out of there. _Max crept silently across the street and over to the front entrance, sly as a fox. She pricked up her ears and listened intently; making sure that the coast was clear. Moving as swiftly and as soundlessly as a ninja, Max climbed the crow black iron staircase to the top floor, passing the vivid scarlet walls on the way up. Max then shifted her weight on the smooth silver handle of the door she faced now and pushed it open with ease. Stepping inside timidly, Max slid the door slowly and carefully back into place; the door making a muffled, mechanically CLICK! After Max had fully scanned the area with her cat-like eyes, she confirmed that the CLICK hadn't woken Logan up or raised any suspicions of any sort. She then let herself relax for a few seconds with a well-earned sigh (not too loud a sigh though, obviously!). Moving onwards, Max edged her way across the room towards a large whiteboard in the corner with all the jottings and scribblings of a very theoretical Logan. There was a large spider-diagram that dominated the board and was exactly what Max was looking for. She fished Joshua's necklace, with the emblem of the breeding cult carved into it, out of her left jacket pocket and pinned it to the board, drawing a circle around it with a black white-board marker and linking it to the words, 'White, Ames' and, 'Breeding cult'. She was about to place the marker back into it's cotton pocket attached to the right side of the board when a voice made her spin on her heels,

"Hello, Max" Max was caught off guard and now she felt as if she was a deer in the headlights of a lorry about to get flattened like a pancake. _Any escape routes? _Wait a minute. This is Logan. This is the man I love, Max thought. I shouldn't avoid him I should talk to him. Face to face. No more lies. After all he would understand, wouldn't he? And if he doesn't I'll just peg it out of there. _Running away again?_

"Logan… the lights were out so I just thought… well I found this necklace on Joshua and it has the same symbol as the breeding cult…He says Father gave it to him…"

"Sso you're saying Sandman is one of White's breeding cult buddies, woohoo,"

The sarcasm in his voice made Max's heart ache. _He didn't understand, time to peg it._

"L-Logan this is really important-"

"Maybe I should do one of my Eyes-Only broadcasts, hmm?" Logan suggested alcohol in one hand and making a whimsical gesture with the other. He strode towards her, well limped, as he was quite obviously incapacitated. Max made a break for it but Logan blocked her path, making her jump back in alarm immediately.

"Logan."

She whispered and attempted to move past him again but he just stood in her way. Her gaze dropped to the floor momentarily, her body swaying uncertainly and restlessly in an imaginary wind. She just wanted to get out of there.

"Logan, I've said all I needed to say…"

"I don't think so" Logan said in a sing-song voice, taunting 'the truth' out of her. He sipped his drink coolly,

"I think there's something else." Max stopped in her tracks; which is just what Logan expected when he got a foothold into 'the truth'.

"I don't know what you're talking about Logan but I-"

"I couldn't talk to you… see 'because you weren't answering your pager. So I went to see you…and I saw him leaving…I mean if I'm wrong just say so, Max"

Max remembered now. Earlier today she walked Alec out of her apartment; after he'd gotten himself arrested for a murder Ben committed and Max had come to his rescue. After they'd talked and shared feelings and memories, they exchanged a rare cuddle and were nice to each other for once; well Max was nice to him, Alec was himself as always. Logan must've come and seen and assumed. Suddenly, Max felt angry. More than angry, furious. After all they'd been through together; he thought that she'd just find another man as soon as things got tough. He obviously was in agreement with the saying, 'when the going gets tough the tough get going.' Well, she wasn't going to let that go so easily,

"Wrong? Are you wrong? Is that what you want to know Logan? No, you're not wrong; you're a complete and utter imbecile!" Max howled at him. Taken aback Logan could only stutter and stammer something like,

"Wh-what…So, I'm…what, wait…I was wrong or I- w-what?"

"Yes you were wrong, you idiot! You obviously don't know me at all. Which is a little bit disappointing after what? 2 years of my life with you? Surely you know that I love you and I thought that someone I love might trust me not to go and leave when things get tough. Or maybe I was wrong about you,"

"What? No! Max I do, I do…you know I do love- well it's just, it's just-"

"Just what?"

"Well you weren't answering your pager and you don't even like Alec and why should you hug him if you weren't-…"

_Now that hurt_, Max thought_, why? Well several reasons. 1. He said I didn't like Alec; which wasn't true. It wasn't true at all! 2. Even if I did hug a total stranger did it mean we were an item? .N.O. And 3. He obviously doesn't trust me and if he thinks I'm just gonna walk out on his sorry ass, which I'm actually now seriously considering, then he should rethink oh I don't know the past two years, I mean HONESTLY! _But Max thought he wasn't worth the bother or effort. Not now anyway.

"Logan I don't want to talk to you for a while, OK?-"

"Max, don't-"

"NO. I don't want to talk to you for a while and that's final. Bye Logan."

"Max, wait I didn't mean to-!"

Max then followed her plan A and pegged it out of the building. When she got outside she was immediately and unexpectedly greeted with a sheet of rain that sliced and pricked and jabbed at her skin with a sharp icy cold sting of water. By the time she reached her motorbike she was already drenched, with millions of droplets of water clinging to her strands of hair, her teeth chattering and her limbs shaking from anger and the freezing cold.

Sliding onto her bike Max sped away down the shadowy, overflowing street, the gutters furiously spitting out the excess water to no avail. And Alec watched her with a heavy heart.

"Logan must've screwed up again," Alec wondered out loud to himself, "Because that looked like a very pissed off Max."

A/N: So what'd you think? Bit rubbish? DO tell!


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I don't know whether I'm meant to write a disclaimer each chapter but I'll do it anyway! I don't own Dark Angel!

A/N: A BIG Thanks for reviewing my first chapter! And thanks to my sister, who loves Dark Angel too! She's very inspiring!

**_Phil_osophy!**

CHAPTER 2: Full of surprises

_4 days later…_

It was another chaotic day in the lives of the sweat-breaking employees, and also in the lives of the slacker employees (which was the majority) of the Jam pony messenger service, and Alec, who was strutting about the workplace in a snazzy pair of black cargo pants, a t-shirt the colour of an overcast day and a half-zipped, shiny black leather jacket, was lost in thought as he perched on the top of the Jam Pony delivery counter.

"Where the fire-truck is Max?" Normal bellowed, his face, ironically, the exact same colour of a fire truck.

"She'll be here any second." Alec stated plainly in an automatic response. He was already knee-deep in thoughts and the busy variety of action, noise and chaos, which was Jam Pony's usual atmosphere, was getting to his head. _If there was just some way I could tell her…Some way to get through to her without her threatening to kick my ass, maybe…_then he decided to do something he knew he'd regret,

"Eh- Sketchy? Herbal? Do you have a minute?"

"Sure man! What's up?"

"How can a brother help?"

Alec decided to take on the 'casual-cool' approach, so he leaned up against a nearby wooden post, took a deep breath and started,

"Oh it's nothing much just this girl I know,"

"Right.", Sketchy confirmed swivelling his citrus fruit orange cap with black rim backwards, and following Alec's lead with the 'casual-cool approach' to the problem (a little less coolly).

"Well I like her…a lot, but the thing is she's a little bit cranky."

"When you say little bit? Do you mean 'MAX cranky'?"

"Hey, Max isn't that cranky!"

"I think our brother Sketchy had a meaning of the term Maximum."

"Oh. Right, yes heh heh! Of course," Alec chuckled nervously,

"Thing is, this girl-"

"Have we come to an acquaintance with the woman in question?" Herbal interrupted with his query of curiosity.

"What? Oh. Right, yeah, yeah. You've met her. But see the thing is I er- really like her but she-"

"Dude, 'she an employee at Jam Pony?" Sketchy asked in a hushed voice, looking suspiciously shifty and glancing here, there and pretty much everywhere.

"Yes," Alec replied, he was beginning to get agitated, "But she doesn't know that I really like her and, well I can't say that she really has a liking to me that much or, you know at all."

"Well it's easy. All you have to do is tell her the truth and just be yourself…" Sketchy suggested. There was a short pause. Then all three were laughing their faces off.

"Hahahahahahaha! Good one Sketchy! Hoohoo! See you later!"

"Eheheheh, yeah, seeya round dude!" Alec turned around and gritted his teeth in frustration. _What am I gonna do?_ Alec forced himself to shrug off the panic and swung his ash grey satchel over one shoulder, heading in the direction of the lockers, which, at this time of day and on this day of the week (Friday), was usually swarming with employees.

"Boo, if you need advice on how to get through to Max, you certainly don' go knockin' on Sketchy's door." OC stood in front of him with an unimpressed look on her face.

"Sssssshhhhhh! Let's not go telling the whole world now!" Alec ushered OC over to a vacant bench and they both sat down.

"How did you now I was talking about Max anyway? Was I really that obvious?" Alec whispered, popping open his locker and removing his various necessities from it.

"Boo, this sister may not like listenin' in on the so-called manly-men trippin' over their own words like a bunch o' fools, but when they tryin' to or, in your case, not quite tryin' to give one o' their own advice about women, well you jus' gotta stop 'em righ' there! And besides, you think a sister don't know love when she sees it? What with you hangin' offa every word she says and what not! Only person who don' see it is Max. Which is you're problem, right? "

Alec sighed dramatically, "Right. So, what do I do?"

"'You wanna win Max's heart, you be yourself-"

"But that's what I've been doing and it's just not-"

"Did I say I was finished, fool?" Alec rolled his eyes and said in a resigned tone of voice,

"No."

"Then shutcha pie-hole and listen up! If small gestures aint workin', try something' BIG." Original Cindy suggested, rummaging through her bag, emptying the contents in the now empty space beside her and fishing out her pager from the assorted pile of stuff. Alec raised an eyebrow,

"You mean like a big romantic gesture, or something?"

"Bulls-eye." Cindy answered, hurriedly stuffing various things back into her back-pack.

"But I don't really know…how to. I mean, you know, I grew up in Manticore for crying out loud, and even when they paired us up as breeding partners, they didn't really specify how you make a candle-lit dinner even remotely romantic when you're stuck in a four-by-four cell with guards circling your room and steel bars blocking out all the lovely moonlight. Catch my drift?" Alec said casually with the usual dosage of sarcasm.

"It's easy, fool. And when I said 'big', I aint necessarily talkin' 'bout a lamp lit lunch! I jus' meant pour your heart into everythin' you do for her. Be sweet and-"

"I thought you said be myself?" Alec interrupted, looking glum and gloomy. Original Cindy rolled her eyes, put on her cap and slid her arm through the second strap on her small, khaki green back-pack, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Don' go kiddin' yo'self Alec! You a real softie at heart! I bet even Max knows that!" Alec watched OC skip over to her bicycle, hop on and ride away, whistling a gleeful tune, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Hey I'll have you know I'm anything but a softie!"

"Going into self-denial are we Alec?" Max strode into Jam Pony, head held high with her usual attitude and, to Alec's surprise, a skip in her step. Considering how pissed she looked when she came out of Logan's place a couple of days ago, this was a bombshell on Alec. Had they kissed and made up? Had he missed his chance with her again? Flabbergasted, all he could say was

"What?" Max rolled her eyes, sliding the rusty lock off of her locker and prying it open.

"Max, are you OK?" Max gave Alec a sideways look of suspicion.

"Yes. Why?"

"Oh it's nothing. Nevermind…"

"There she is, Miss. Lateness herself! There have been myths of her ever-reliable lateness to any occasion however unimportant but now they have been confirmed by yours truly,"

"Normal, the only reason I was late was because my washing machine broke, could I have prevented that particular event happening, NO." Max slammed her locker shut, slipped the lock back into place and scooted past a very irate Normal.

"Well you better come in early tomorrow or you're fired, Missy! That's right, I said fired!" Normal called after her. Finally giving up, he sighed and stated hopelessly,

"Slackers, eh? Can't live with them, and, well…that's it."

"Hold that thought, Normal. Max! Max, wait up!" Alec followed Max's lead and scooted past the obstacle that was Normal. Leaping gracefully onto his bike like a highly skilled acrobat and peddling like a madman out of Jam Pony after Max, he left a stunned and very disapproving Normal in his wake.

"Max, wait up!"

"Nope. No way. Uh-uh. You'll just slow me down!"

The two of them peddled down the steamy streets of Seattle, cycling past the numerous broken-down, burnt out husks of cars, trucks, vans and the like, as well as some blissfully ignorant pedestrians who were too caught up in their own business to notice the two whirlwinds fly past them. Alec, who was grinning smugly at Max, as he had now caught up with her and was cycling right beside her, decided to take this fantastic opportunity to take Cindy's expert advice,

"Eh- Max would you- would you like to go out sometime?" Alec knew this part only too well, as he had played it back in his head over and over again. Max's bike would screech to a halt, she'd turn to him and tell him that she'd rather die and ride away, never to be seen again. And it would be entirely his fault. He would've lost her forever…just like Rachel.

But to his astonishment, she kept on cycling, her brow creased in thought, and after a brief (but still painful for Alec) silence, her expression cleared up and she casually answered,

"Yeah, sure, I'd love to. But if it involves one of us cooking you'll be doing the honours, pretty boy." Still a bit stupefied by her answer, Alec didn't react immediately to this,

"Oh, yeah, yeah, 'course! Heh, heh!" After this rather lame statement, Alec was lost in thought… _So did she break up with Logan? Was she happy to be without him? Or maybe she WAS with him and mistook what I meant when I asked her out…maybe she thought I was asking her out as a friend? Maybe not?_ Alec unfortunately was so lost in thought, that he didn't see the neatly trimmed evergreen bush that was barely metres away.

"Alec, err- you might wanna move. Alec. Alec! ALEC!"

Ring, ring! CRASHHH! "OOooooof!" and "Arg! Get off!" could be heard shortly after both Max and Alec crashed into the privet bush (Max dived at Alec to make him swerve out of the way but it turned out he was already swerving out of the way when she rugby tackled him).

"Max, could you please remove your foot from my face?"

"Maybe, when you remove your elbow from my stomach! Oooof!" After untangling each other's limbs, they both simultaneously sat up, their faces dangerously close together. An unwanted suggestion popped up in Max's head, telling her to close the distance between them (little did she know Alec was thinking the same)… she shrugged it off and got to her feet retaining as much dignity as possible. She dusted herself off, giving Alec one last long look and smiling genuinely,

"See you at, what, 10:00?"

"You're just full of surprises, Maxie!"

"It's Max!"

"Whatever!"

And as Alec watched her walk away, something deep inside fizzed like a glass of lemonade. Maybe he still had a chance with Max. Maybe. Or maybe not. This life of his was just full of surprises! So who knows what's in store…


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Dark Angel.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I know what you're all thinking, "Where's Phil?" But not to worry, he'll appear soon enough! And a special thank you to my family too!

**_Phil_osophy!**

CHAPTER 3: Pushing away in the wrong direction.

8:49…

As Max slowly slid into her ¾'s full bath tub, the displaced water rising up and seeping out over the sides, accompanied by billions of flimsy, delicate bunches of multicoloured bubbles, she couldn't help but relax. She found that having a nice hot bath always helped her to relax and think things over calmly and sensibly. Blowing a strand of dark hair out of her face, she wondered…_why did I do that? I shouldn't have said yes, should I? For some reason, when he asked me, I felt so sure that I wanted to. Now, I don't know why I said it. _She frowned as she washed herself over with a fluorescent green sponge. _What about Logan? It hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be; not talking to him, or confronting him, or having to be by his side without managing to kill him. In fact it's been a lot less difficult without him…I shouldn't be saying that about the man I love. But then again, is he a man I love? Or a man I have to love?_ Max shrugged off her deep inner thoughts and stepped out of the bath. She wrapped a large clean violet towel around herself and used one slightly smaller brown towel to dry her hair with. She checked the time by glancing up at a lopsided, industrial black clock on the far left wall. 9:14… Max dried her hair and brushed it through; tying it up in a very long ponytail with a scarlet coloured scrunchy. She then changed into a pair of sky blue jeans, a vivid rose red, long-sleeved top and (of course) a black jacket. Carefully applying her cherry lip gloss and just the right amount of shadowy black eyeliner, Max swaggered into the main room where Original Cindy was sprawled out on a cluster of pink, green and yellow bean bags. Max, who had immediately caught OC's attention, was now rifling through her bag and checking that she had the necessities.

"You goin' somewhere, boo?"

"Yup, I'm going over to Alec's place tonight."

Cindy smiled secretly to herself. _So he's got a plan…_

"You mean like a date?" Max giggled. "Maybe." Cindy eyed Max with suspicion.

"This for real? You…and Alec?" Max shrugged and sat down next to Cindy.

"I don't know whether I should, you know, go."

"Sugar, if you didn't wanna go, why'd you say yes in the firs' place?"

"It's not that I don't want to go, it's just-"

"Then go. Have a nice time. At least give the man a chance."

"You stickin' up for a man, Cindy? That man being Alec?" Max teased.

"I jus' sayin' the man deserves a chance. I aint sayin' that the three-legged-gender is all good. Hell no and that's the truth straight up!"

"Alright, alright I didn't mean anything by it." They both giggled girlishly for a moment. Then Max swung her bag over her shoulder and cried out to Cindy, one foot in the hallway and one foot in the apartment,

"Bye, boo!"

"Bye, and hey, good luck!"

Max glanced down nervously at her watch throughout the journey. It was already 9:32 when she reached her beautiful bike, just outside her block of flats and by the time she'd arrived at Alec's building it was already 9:56. She legged it up the stairs and got to the door at 9:59. She knocked three times on an old, deteriorating, bottle green door and it opened almost instantly. Alec stood in the doorway leaning casually against the frame. His blondish-brown hair was amazing, as usual, coming down to just below the ears and his hazelnut brown eyes were looking at Max with a hopeful, light-hearted gaze. He was wearing a camouflage green, long sleeved top underneath a dark leather jacket with a pair of stormy grey cargo pants; his usual outfit. They both tried to smile but found the situation both awkward and embarrassing. Max was the first one to make a move. She smiled genuinely at Alec and asked,

"Can I…come in?"

"What? Oh right, yeah, of course." Alec sidestepped to let Max pass; scratching his head in thought as he shut the door with the back of his foot. She dropped her bag on the sofa and inspected his apartment. Everything smelled of Alec, which although at times was a little bit overpowering, smelled nice. The furniture was quite basic and old-fashioned with a muddy brown, moth-eaten, sofa in the centre, accompanied by a few patterned cushions and a humble, 3 legged, coffee table. The lighting was dim; not for romantic purposes but because the bulb had almost spent its last few watts. As Max slowly sat down she risked a glance at her pager and was surprised to see that she had no new messages. Logan had been paging her all week, every day and every hour. She silently thanked God that he'd stopped. But it was still a bit surprising that he'd given up so easily; it wasn't really like Logan to give up, which got Max a little worried. But she refused to let him ruin her evening and so she stuffed her pager bag into her bag. She was at least happy that he had finally decided to respect her wishes. Alec sat down next to Max trying to say something but failing miserably.

"Err- you look nice, Max." Max smiled, "Thanks…err- you look nice too?" Alec laughed nervously and then mumbled,

"I borrowed mission impossible 4 from a guy I know. Do you want to, um, watch it?"

"Mission Impossible 4?"

"Mission Impossible 4." Alec confirmed.

"I don't think I've seen that one." Max threw in conversationally.

"Nope neither have I."

"Do you, err- want to put it on then?" Alec suddenly looked a bit quizzical.

"Put what on?" Max grinned.

"Mission Impossible 4!"

"Oh right, I'll just get it." Alec got to his feet and gave Max the thumbs up; making her giggle. He popped open a worn wooden cabinet next to the TV with holes in the bottom and plucked out 'Mission Impossible 4' from all of the 5 videos he owned. Sliding it into the dust covered, wide silver box that was his video player, Alec pressed play and sat back down next to Max…

Logan didn't know what he could do to make it up to Max. He'd stopped paging her because he figured it would've gotten a little bit annoying now. Besides, he couldn't even get through to her anymore; and it's not like she was going to phone him back anyway. He gulped down a martini of misery and chomped on an olive of self-pity as he remembered how things used to be. Ah, the good old days. He wished things had never changed. Then a thought struck him. If he could somehow make her come back here, to his place, then they could talk about their problems together, talk it over, maybe over a cheap bottle of pre-pulse chardonnay? Yup, just like the good old days. He stood up, walked over to the phone (making mechanical noises as he walked because he was still wearing his exoskeleton), reached over to pick it up and…

Max had never laughed so hard in her entire life. As she hugged a plump and stripy, tasselled cushion to her chest, leaning her head on Alec's shoulder with his arm around her she couldn't help feeling…safe; like she didn't have to run away anymore. She felt so sure that this was a place she wanted to be. After a bit of an awkward start to their evening they both got used to each other's company and started to enjoy them selves; criticizing all the guards as they somehow failed to see Tom cruise behind them, telling each other how they'd infiltrate Ivan Zan Fielnar's base in the least time possible, pointing out the things that would certainly never happen and pummelling each other with cushions. Now, they were both lying on the sofa, in each other's arms, exhausted, with the credits rolling down the screen in a thin, white type-writer font on a black backing.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to laugh again." Max and Alec managed to titter simultaneously and then something happened that Max didn't expect. Alec turned to Max, grinned mischievously and planted a kiss on Max's lips. This was a moment Max had dreaded since the beginning of the date. She predicted that the worst would happen; that she would think of Logan when she kissed Alec or that she'd start comparing. But she didn't do either (although she did think Alec was a great kisser). Alec's face filled her vision; his eyes were closed and Max decided to follow his lead and close hers too. Her hands went through his hair, leaving it slightly ruffled, and rested on the sides of his head. Suddenly, for some reason, Alec pulled away. Max gave him a puzzled look,

"I err- need to be sure of something, before anything sort of…happens." Max's brow creased in confusion.

"Are you…are you still with Logan?" Max's expression was blank.

"Well," Max explained, "He said something incredibly stupid and I decided I didn't want to talk to him for a while." Alec stared at his shoes.

"That doesn't really answer my question." Max frowned. She was so close to some sort of realisation about what her relationship with Logan REALLY meant to her and today she had come so close to a realisation about what Alec really meant to her too. But now she was about to lose someone who she had found she really cared about and someone who she could really relate to. Was she still with Logan?

"Yes." Max said grudgingly.

Alec looked Max in the eyes and asked her, his voice wavering slightly,

"So why did you come here then, Max, a one night stand or something?" Max could already see the hurt reflected in his eyes. She wished she'd lied, but even more than that she wished she'd broken up with Logan when she had the chance.

"I didn't want a one night stand Alec, I genuinely wanted to come-"

"So you thought you'd, what, 'I'll have my cake and eat it too'? Is that it?"

"No, that's not it either. I wanted to give you a chance to-"

"What you took pity on me? You think I didn't stand a chance?" Alec roared in outrage. Max shook her head vigorously, denying it all.

"I meant give US a chance-"

"Max, I think you should leave."

"No. Alec, please-"

"I don't want to hear it, OUT." Alec ordered. Max got to her feet shakily, picked up her bag and walked out of Alec's apartment, sombrely and dutifully, not looking at him once. Alec collapsed on the sofa, his head in his hands and his limbs shaking with emotion. He sighed deeply and thought to himself, melancholy in mind, _I never had a chance…_

Original Cindy was already fast asleep by the time Max walked in, make-up smudged, tears streaming down her face, looking dishevelled and rather bedraggled. She headed straight for the bathroom and had herself a nice hot shower which, she would've enjoyed more if her date had not gone horribly wrong. Tears mingled with shower water and shower water mingled with tears; both ending up in the drain to be used again for another day. _What am I going to do? _Max asked herself._ He won't want to talk to me, or even see me anymore. That can't happen, it just can't. I need him…_I need him? Where did that come from Max? You don't need _him_, you've never needed _him_. Max straightened up, stepping out of the shower and wrapping the same towel she used earlier this evening, "pre-date", around her body and drying her hair. She stepped into the main room, admittedly not as confident as before, and was surprised to see OC in her jim-jams staring at Max's pager with a quizzical expression on her face. Caught in the act, and knowing that Max would want an explanation for rifling through her personal stuff, Original Cindy explained herself,

"Your pager was beeping like mad and woke me up, so I went to see what all the noise was 'bout." Max nodded walking over to Cindy. "It's Logan. It looks important. Are you gonna check it out, boo?" Max didn't need to think about this. It was probably another Eyes Only mission that Logan needed help with. She knew what she had to do. This was the perfect opportunity to break up with Logan; she'd be an idiot not to end it now.

"Yeah, I'm gonna end this thing once and for all."

"Straight up, boo?" Cindy asked with concern for her friend, placing a reassuring hand on Max's shoulder. Max visualised the look on Alec's face when she told him it wasn't over between her and Logan; visualised the pain in his eyes and the shakiness in his voice. She vowed never to make him feel that way ever again; and so strengthened her resolve to break it off with Logan, as soon as possible.

"Yeah," Max said with a new found confidence, "Straight up." OC nodded in understanding with Max, regarding her with a sympathetic look of concern. Max marched out of the apartment, bold and self-assured. Halfway down the hallway, Max was able to hear, with the aid of her genetically enhanced super hearing, Original Cindy scuffling out of the front room, mumbling dozily, "Finally…I thought she'd never dump THAT one…" (Making Max grin) collapsing into bed and curling up into a cosy, comfy and altogether snug sleeping position; unfortunately, reminding Max just how exhausted she really was after such a busy day.

When she got outside, she hopped onto her bike and shot through the misty streets of night-time Seattle, little did she know she was being watched! All the luminous shop signs, all the blinking, malfunctioning, orange orbs of glowing light radiating from the street lambs and all the house lights turning off, as their inhabitants fell into blissful slumber, were just a blur to Max as she sped through the night; feeling free.

She reached Logan's place in a record time of 2 minutes 27 seconds. Climbing the stairs to the top floor and knocking three times on the door, Max prepared herself for what was to come and gathered her words for the 'breaking up' speech, forcing herself not to picture his face when he heard the bad news.

The door swung open and Logan stood in the doorway beaming warmly at her; for some reason she found herself slightly repulsed by the sight of Logan's cheesy grin. _How can he smile at a time like this? _Max decided to get straight to the point and avoid all the courtesies,

"Logan what is it?" Logan's lighthouse-smile faltered slightly, "I think we need to talk about our relationship, Max. Where it's going, what's going wrong, everything. Come inside-"

"No!" Max wailed to the surprise of both Logan AND Max. "I mean, I don't want to stay long, so I'll be fine here thanks." Logan looked Max up and down, regarding her with concern,

"Are you-?"

"I'm fine, thanks. Don't worry about me. Let's talk about our relationship."

Logan sighed reluctantly, leaning against the polished wooden door frame. He gave Max a wistful, woebegone look and said in a quiet, caring voice, "I've done and said a lot of stupid things Max, and I can't tell you how sorry I am for them. I never meant to hurt you. But, I'd like the chance to start again-"

"Logan,"

"Max please, hear me out. I know a lot has happened between us, but can't we just put that all behind us? Can't it be like the old days?" Max was silent for a moment. This wasn't at all what she wanted. She was supposed to go in, break up and get out. Now he was getting inside her head and her heart all over again; asking for another chance. Max still thought of Logan as a friend, a misguided one, yes, but still a friend and she had no intention of hurting him, so she desperately searched for a reason to push him away, far away.

"The virus-"

"The virus doesn't matter." Logan interrupted her, exasperated. He added bitterly, "It's not like we ever touched each other before the virus anyway…" That stung, it stung like a bee sting in Max's heart, but she couldn't deny it. They did spend about a year dancing around each other and by the time they realised that they had feelings for one another it was already too late. Sometimes, Max thought that they were destined NOT to be together, like somebody, somewhere, was trying to tell her something from the very first time they met. In a last attempt to push Logan away, Max decided to tell him the truth,

"To be honest Logan I didn't come over here to talk to you. I came over here to end our rela-"

"Max, please!" Logan pleaded with Max, his expression and the look in his eyes reflecting that of Alec's earlier this evening. Max cringed. She wasn't going to break two peoples' hearts in the same day. _I'll give him one more chance; but only one. _Rolling her eyes and sighing in defeat, she said in a resigned voice,

"Alright, I'll give you one last chance; one."Logan could hardly contain himself He beamed fervently at Max and his watery blue eyes looked like they were about to leak. Max didn't want to stay for the 'happy-clappy waterworks' so she bolted; leaving a stunned, but overjoyed Logan in her wake.

When she got home, she collapsed on her bed and stared up at the cream-coloured ceiling and found that her cheeks were wet. She sobbed and wept and whimpered long into the night. _Why? Why did I do that? What am I going to do? Alec…I'm so sorry. I've done it again, and I can't get out of this one, not this time. I'm stuck. Who's going to help me now? Who?_ Max tried to sleep but found it extremely difficult with a guilty conscious; no matter how many positions she tried, or how many sheep she counted, or how many times she plumped up her pillows, she just couldn't sleep. When she did finally get some sleep, her dreams were filled with Alec crying and Logan laughing and Max stuck in a sticky web with a spider about to eat her. All in all it was not a good night's sleep. But the one thing that stuck in her head the most were the echoes of her thoughts ricocheting off of the inner walls of her skull. _Alec…I'm so sorry. Why? Why did I do that? Who's going to help me now? Who?_

A/N: So what do you think? A little bit too lardy-dar? Longer that the last two! Do review!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Dark Angel but it would be nice!

A/N: **that's right. It's Phil time!**

**_Phil_osophy!**

CHAPTER 4: Here to help!

He stepped out of the train onto the congested platform, densely crowded with travellers, business men and woman, salesmen and an assortment of different folk. There was even a man dressed like a wizard asking for a chocolate croissant from a baker's shop stall in the far right corner of the platform; which amused him to no end.

He observed the platform contemplatively with his eyes wide open in perpetual surprise as per usual. Clutching two crammed and bulging suitcases, one in each hand, he sucked in a deep breath and blew it out again, making for the station's archway that lead to the exiting stairs. He was about to happily stride through the archway, when a shifty looking young man of about 27 casually tossed his scrunched up monster munch wrapper onto the floor. A frown gradually built up on his face as his litter-radar-light flashed up on his mental screen. He slowly turned around and approached the young man. He dramatically dropped the suitcases on the ground making a clattering noise and immediately capturing the man's attention. Eyeballing him with a fuming, fiery glare that made the man sweat profusely and fidget nervously, he pointed with a plump, weighted finger at the litter lying uselessly on the floor and then pointed at the dustbin only a few metres away.

"I think you know what to do." He said under his breath, (the young man complying immediately) slowly turning away again (not forgetting his suitcases of course) to walk under the archway, climb carefully up the stairs and punch the air with a triumphant fist. He liked when people listened to him; mainly because it didn't happen that often but when it did it was great and especially when it has something to do with what you believe in. Yup, he was an eco-friendly guy; no matter what dimension he was in… stepping into his scheduled cab, he was driven to one of many steamy streets in the middle of Seattle. Putting one foot out again, he strode confidently into a small business place, well it didn't really look like a small business place. It looked more like an ant hill. This underground graffiti den, with thick black grates around the director's area (I say director, I mean manager, and by that I mean Normal), plain wooden doors and a rubber gripped-ramp at the entrance was of course Jam-pony messenger service and the man who just walked in was of course Phil. Phil strutted up to the director's desk, where Normal was bellowing orders at some lazy mail-messenger with not only dreadlocks in his hair but in his beard and, rather grotesquely in his armpit hair too.

"Excuse me, can I send this package to a Max Guevera, please?" Phil inquired politely.

"What do YOU wan- Oh err- yes, yes, of course. Anything for a customer- hold on, did you say Max Guevera?"

"Uh yeah, is she here?" Phil searched the surroundings for Max's familiar face. He spotted her swaggering out of the girl's changing rooms, wearing the usual casual/work outfit with a bright red, representative Jam pony cap on her head and a sector pass strapped to her left front pocket, she was accompanied by a sassy black female with an enormous, fuzzy black afro. This he presumed was Original Cindy who Max had talked about many times. He remembered Max saying in the exact words, "She's one chick with REAL attitude!"

"Phil? Is that you?" Max questioned, frowning with a creased brow.

"That's right." To both his and a few of the messengers' surprise (including Original Cindy and Alec) Max sprinted forward and embraced Phil with a little more force than she intended.

"Wooaah! Looks like I've been missed," Phil croaked from within the bear-hug Max was giving him. Max took this as her queue to break the hug; she beamed enthusiastically at him and merrily asked,

"What are you doing in Seattle then, Phil?" The other messengers (apart from two, who were growing more and more curious by the second, leaning on the rusted and deteriorating silver grated lockers, hopelessly attempting to look inconspicuous. They were of course, OC and Alec, who were increasingly intrigued by the identity of the new stranger) had gotten bored and dispersed some time ago; back to finishing the business of the day. Phil indicated his suitcases and grinned cheerily,

"I'm moving to Seattle!" Max's face lit up like a Christmas tree.

"That's GREAT! Did you go and see your mom?"

"That I did," Phil answered smugly looking very pleased with himself, his presence and posture very dignified, "She's in tip-top shape! She was so surprised to see me. She said…oh what was it she said, ah yes, she said it 'must've been fate playing games with her'! Ha, good old ma. She's got the right idea about the universe alright; destiny walks hand in hand with the likes of fate, leading the way for all mankind, into the 19th dimension and across the parallel multi-verses. Ah…" Phil gazed dreamily up where the stars would be, had there not been a ceiling with wallpaper flaking off of it and plaster smeared, smudged and slopped in all the wrong places, in the way. He was lost in a world of his own, enjoying himself thoroughly with the concept of a network of parallel universes adjacent to this one, all buzzing with life. Who knew! Perhaps a Phil in another universe, who was otherwise known as 'the dude', with a large afro and glittering gold tinted sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, was considering the very same prospect…

"Phil? PHIL?" Snapping back into focus, Phil followed Max to the changing rooms and propped his luggage up next to a plain, un-sanded rickety wooden table.

"Sorry," Max said apologetically, "I wanted to talk to you in private without the rest of the world hearing." Phil nodded in agreement,

"You never know who's listening." Max explained, who spotted the look on Phil's face, the look that says "I'm returning to wonderland now", and asked conversationally,

"So what's going on in your life at the moment Phil?"

"Well, like I was saying I'm moving into Seattle with my wife Clara-"

"Hold the phone; wife? Clara?"

"Oh of course, I haven't told you about her! Clara's my wife." Phil said casually,

"When did you meet her?"

Phil smiled and gazed up at the ceiling with a nostalgic, dreamy look in his eyes,

"Well, we met at a Sci-fi convention in Geneva about 2 years ago; ah, you should've seen her… reclining in a cheap metal fold up chair with her antenna blowing in the artificial wind of a nearby electric fan…" Max frowned looking very bemused.

"You mean she's an alien?" Phil chuckled,

"No, no, no she was wearing a costume." Max chortled with Phil, looking slightly dubious and feeling relieved.

"She was a writer you see. She wrote a book on the universe. It was called, 'Who's really out there…' I read her book and I told her I really liked it and then we got talking and- and well, one thing lead to another, and the next thing I knew I was married to the most beautiful, intelligent, imaginative women I've ever met… ah, she's amazing. She's having my baby you know." Phil threw in coolly. Max goggled wide-eyed at Phil, mouth open in astonishment; stupefied by this sudden bombshell. All she could manage to stutter was,

"Wha-…baby?"

"I know. That's what I said when I found out; pretty neat, 'ey?" Phil sighed happily, his eyes glimmering and glittering like a mirror ball with the ecstatic tears of a father-to-be. Max wasn't so good in this area. It was Logan's cousin's wedding all over again. Being born and raised in Manticore didn't really prepare you for all this sort of…stuff. She didn't really know anything about how that person probably feels, how she should feel, what people in these situations need to hear, how she should act or whether she was expected to do something. As much as it annoyed her, she couldn't deny that she was still somebody who was experiencing everything for the first time because of her 'unique upbringing'. She took a shot in the dark,

"Err- how, um… how nice for you…?"

"Thanks. I'm a little worried about being a dad though. It's scary; I don't want to mess it up, but I've never done this sort of thing before, obviously. I really want to bring my kid up in the right and good way, y'know?" Max nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable and frustrated.

"It's a BIG responsibility," Then a thought came to mind,

"Have you thought of any names yet?" Max sighed inwardly; finally she said something really right and was glad to bring them off of the subject of children, as it might lead to her having to reminisce with him about her childhood. If there was one thing she was sure she could help Phil with it was how, where and when NOT to raise your child; she was all but an expert in that area via her own personal experiences.

"Yeah I have actually! Me and Clara decided them together. Um, lets see, if it's a boy we were going to call it Emery or Thomas and if it's a girl we were going to name it after my sister, Francesca." There was a brief silence between them as they acknowledged the terrible loss of Francesca, regarding each other solemnly and exchanging empathies for each other's losses.

"Enough about me," Phil muttered quietly "What's going on in your life?"

Max sighed deeply and explained her situation to Phil; she including her night with Alec, how it ended abysmally, how Logan had begged her for a second chance, how she felt, everything. Little did she know Alec, who at this moment in time was wrinkling his nose in frustration, was squatting just outside the doorway, eavesdropping in on their very enlightening conversation (Cindy spying on him and shaking her head disapprovingly).

"So, now I'm stuffed!"

"No you're not." Max, who was taken aback by Phil's words asked,

"How do you mean?"

"I mean it's very simple. Who do you really want to be with? And when I say that I mean, who do you REALLY want to be with?"

"I-I don't know…" Max stammered, feeling awkward.

"Come on; just think really hard about it. Which one do you love?" Max blushed at the very concept, _how can he be so…so normal about that sort of thing! _She said to herself. She pretended, to Phil and herself, to think hard on the subject; when she already the answer to that question and it made her squirm that she knew she knew the answer to this. It was safer for her to be unsure about it. That way, no-one but her would know, but even that didn't sound as promising as it should. Alec was on the edge of his seat, practically hopping from foot to foot with anticipation. _She's going to say Logan. Or maybe she isn't? Maybe, just maybe…_

"So…err- if I know which one I…like most, how do I ...what am I supposed to do?"

Phil beamed at her.

"It's easy, just ditch one of them and go with the other one." Alec rolled his eyes and swore under his breath in exasperation. _Same the name already! I can't take it!_

"Surely that's a bit harsh! I mean, I don't want to hurt either of them, but I can't go on being so- well- as in, not doing, but always wanting to do, you see what I mean?"

Phil nodded and continued,

"This kind of thing is always risky business. It's understandably hard-to-do. But trust me on this one; first you take a moment to confirm things, think about what you're going to do, make a backup plan and then do it. No hesitations, nothing. Otherwise you'll get absolutely nowhere in your life, Max and let's face it, anywhere is better than nowhere! You've got to tell them both the truth. I they get angry it's their fault! Trust me; you'll feel a whole lot better afterwards!" Phil patted Max sympathetically on the back, smiling kindly at her. She returned the gesture and appeared to be deep in thought.

"So, show me this Alec guy, you've been talking about so much."

"Yeah," Max stood up, "Alright then," Alec's face lit up like a lighthouse. _So that means she likes me! Or actually, maybe it doesn't. Oh crap. She's coming this way; better move… _Alec leapt to his feet and attempted to flee the scene of the crime before he was rumbled for eavesdropping and sentenced to 2 years of relentless ass kicking from Max's direction. Unfortunately he stumbled over his own shoe laces, toppling and tumbling into a hopeless heap on the skid-mark ridden jam pony floor. Max raised a questioning eyebrow at Alec, her hands on her hips.

"Are you alright, Alec?"

"Ouch, Oooooooooof, Arg…not good." Max crouched down next to Alec with a concerned expression on her face, checking him over with a meticulous eye and brushing the dust and debris off of him; dust that was once gathering, in several different layers of thickness, on the floor and had now quickly attached itself to Alec's clothes, clinging to his skin and ruffled hair. Normal was promptly on the case and was about to intervene between the two of them when Phil advanced forward, seeing his queue, and creating a human blockade obstructing Normal's path.

"Who do YOU think is out there?" Normal frowned, tilting his head to one side in confusion,

"Out where? And who the hell are you?"

"What if I was to tell you that there were several other Normals like you; wandering the worlds in the many parallel universes that surround us? What would you say to that?" Normal glared furiously at Phil and engaged in fierce, relentless debate, arguing that there were no aliens, no parallel universes or any dimensions other than the 3 that there already were; attracting the attention of many slacker employees who were having a rather monotonous, irksome and stale as dead bread day, like moths to flames.

Meanwhile, Max had finished tying Alec's cotton shoelaces in record breaking time and was now examining the ankles, toes and soles of his feet; avoiding all eye-contact with him. They were in a world of their own the two of them, with nobody paying any attention (apart from Original Cindy, of whom was eyeing them cynically and reproachfully, shaking her head and tutting in further disapproval, "They got the love bug for real for sure.") and knowing this made Max feel a little more comfortable to say what she wanted to say. She didn't have to tell him now right? She poked and prodded at various points on Alec's foot,

"Ouch! Jeez, Maxie! What are you doing?" Max hesitated.

"You've twisted your ankle. I'm taking you home."

"What? I'm not going anywhere! I'm fine!" Alec stubbornly insisted, stumbling to his feet and shakily limping forward only a few feet before collapsing on the floor again.

"Damn…" he swore, examining his ankle to confirm Max's diagnoses.

"Alec, you're going home whether you want to or not." Max ordered looking Alec in the eye for the first time that afternoon. Alec gave Max a puzzled look and watched her intently as she raised him to his feet, weaving her arms under his armpits and wrapping them around his waist. Max looked away, feeling abashed and embarrassed. _You're just helping your good friend Alec. There's no reason for you to feel weird. You're just overreacting. This is definitely NOT the time for a talk about THAT. He needs you now. It's not the time to get all touchy-feely Max; just NOT the time._ Alec was still watching Max with growing curiosity. He said softly,

"Max, you don't have to-"

"Yes, I do, and don't even THINK of making a getaway because you will NOT go very far." Max replied firmly, nimbly weaving in and out of incoming messengers whilst carrying Alec out of Jam-pony and slinging him onto her motorbike that was leaned up against a large, rusty, corrugated sideboard. Alec started laughing heartily,

"Err Max you might want to-"

"What are YOU laughing about- oh no." Max leapt off of the powerful, muscled black speed machine that was her bike and stared unblinking at the sight before her. _This can't be! Impossible, nooooo! _She circled the bike to be sure, but she acknowledged miserably that she wasn't having a REALLY bad dream or that she was hallucinating. She witnessed, with horror, the sight of a clamped ninja motorbike. Not only was there a yellow clamp hanging limply from the bike's underbelly but both wheels, front and back, had disappeared into thin air.

"NO! Nononononononono! This can't be! I refuse to believe my eyes! Ohhh, my only child!" She whimpered, lamenting with melancholy and wishing she could deny it all. Alec, who had stopped laughing and was touched by this cinematic scene of reality (the caption under this picture being, "It's just not fair"), ambled with an old man's limp over to Max to give her an embrace with all his sympathy.

"Never mind, Max; it's OK. It'll all be alright!" He patted her on the back but it didn't seem to stop her crying. He unwillingly added,

"You can borrow mine if you like?" Unfortunately for Alec this just made Max sob harder, burying her head in his shoulder. Alec sighed,

"Come on Maxie, it's not like the world has ended! It's just another obstacle that you can- well, you sort of HAVE to, _walk _past it." This didn't seem to work either, so Alec reluctantly gave up with this notion and went back to just patting her on the back and comforting her with a friendly hug.

Max, after stifling her sniffles and hurriedly wiping her eyes, broke the hug with Alec and scowled up at the heavens, stating bitterly in a shaky voice,

"Somebody up there just doesn't like me!"

"Come on now, Maxie! Don't go blaming it on _the man_; it's not like this sort of thing always and only happens to you especially! Shit happens!"

"…I suppose…" Max said sulkily.

"Now let's walk me home!" Max snorted at that and resumed her 'help Alec' position, ambling down the road and slapping Alec round the head after he made a rather inappropriate joke…

Original Cindy watched them limp away together with a satisfied smile spreading across her face. She then, when she was sure they were out of sight, sorted through the assortment of rusted metal tools, carelessly thrown and scattered around in the tool kit box and grabbed hold of a chunky blue wrench and 8 silvery black screws. She then retrieved the two bike tyres from behind the rusty, corrugated sideboard and, with her expert mechanic skills, fitted them back into the motorcycle. She stood back to observe her own handiwork and exclaimed with a mischievous laugh of deviousness,

"My work is done!"


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: No Dark Angel ownership from my part of the pomegranate!

A/N: Sorry if I post my chapters far apart! It's difficult with school, etc. happening at the same time! Here's the next chapter anyway. Watch out, there are far too many 'ever's in this chapter!

**_Phil_osophy!**

CHAPTER 5: All that Jazz…

By the time Max and Alec had completed the tedious turnings and tiresome treadings of their journey home, thousands upon thousands of needles of sacred rain were already seeping from the heavens. The travels that led to Alec's apartment were filled with awkward silences and the familiar pauses of having thought of nothing to say. Alec, who was still mulling over and reminiscing about the various things he'd recently overheard, longed to express his feelings to Max and ask her so many questions, that whenever he tried to put his thoughts into words and tell her, another idea materialised in his mind, causing the additional symptoms of an excruciating migraine to be added to his list of problems, which was big enough as it was…

On the other hand, Max had to keep fighting back the urge to tell him all the things she so desperately wanted to tell him. _Now is not the time! _She kept persuading herself, _another time… maybe next week? Yeah right. Next month? Next year? Next millennium, more like. He needs to know NOW. After all, there's no time like the present! _But in the end, she ended up subconsciously gluing her lips together and not uttering a single syllable throughout the whole thing.

Now she leant casually on the frame of the door, watching Alec intently as he struggled to fish his keys out from his left jacket pocket. He slotted the flaky brass key into the lopsided keyhole, turning it, shouldering the sticky, jammed-up door and stumbling inside, with Max right behind him. She carefully closed it behind her and stood swaying uncertainly in the middle of the room, not sure what to do next. She sighed deeply as her eyes dotted from place to place in the apartment, looking for something to distract her. Alec, who had spotted the hinted gesture, flopped over on the crouch, massaging his ankle, and said warmly,

"You can go now, if you want to, I'll be fine."

Max immediately declined this suggestion, shaking her head vigorously with much disapproval and dismissal.

"I don't think so. I'll stay here today. After all, who knows what stunts you'll try to pull with your newly broken ankle!" Alec grinned and shoved his hand down the back of the sofa causing Max to raise an eyebrow and eyeball him with some suspicion. She giggled when she witnessed the over-dramatic retrieval of the TV remote from the depths of the shabby, murky-turquoise-coloured sofa.

"What are you planning to watch?"

Alec laughed,

"Hahaa, you should know, Maxie, whenever someone turns on a TV with this expression on their face they're not planning to watch anything; they're just going to stare at the pretty colours on the screen till they get bored." Max considered this new fact, adding it to her big book of facts that she stored in alphabetical order in her head, shrugged and decided to join Alec on the sofa. He gave her a mischievous sideways glance and then started channel hopping to his hearts' content; finally stopping on a Canadian music-video channel hosted by a presenter with the most monotonous voice he had ever heard. Max snorted,

"Ha, I should've known! You have NO taste! Well, (she sighed) if you're going to watch this rubbish…" Max reluctantly reached into her jacket and pulled out the tea-stained, paint splattered, torn and doodled on virus papers that Logan was lately being so irksome about. Oooooh! How irritating he'd become! Ever since she'd given him that second chance, she'd regretted it like nothing she'd ever regretted before. He paged her constantly, insisted that she work on the virus papers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and always asked her where she was going, what she was doing and when she was doing it every minute of every day! Arrrrhgg! She appreciated that he was concerned for her safety and well-being but enough was enough. She was definitely not a genetically enhanced girl who needed supervision constantly or needed people to treat her like she was a child that couldn't look after herself. Sure, any help would be welcome, but enough _was _definitely enough!

Alec, whose eyes couldn't keep focused on the TV for long, shuffled along the sofa, closer to Max, to get a peep at whatever it was she was concentrating so hard on. He peered over her shoulder and made her jump by inquiring plainly,

"Whacha doin'?" She hastily scribbled out a useless equation scrawled untidily by the doctor on the bottom left corner of the page and muttered in reply,

"Virus papers…Logan…"

"…Oh."

Alec lost interest after hearing those words (especially one) and went back to staring brainlessly at the TV until, of course, a few minutes later, Max screeched in fury and frustration, making Alec jump this time.

"Arrrrrrrrghhh! This is so pointless! I realllllly don't see any point in this! I wish this dumb virus would just die off already! Then, I wouldn't have to work out an unlikely cure from these stupid papers and interpret this guy's ridiculously complicated handwriting! Arghhhhhhhh!" Alec frowned.

"Lemme see that," he clutched the papers out of Max's unresisting hands, which she then used to bury her head in. He winced to focus on the complicated symbols and fluid, joined up, loopy writing but it was no use,

"Surely some of this is decipherable; oooh! Ooooh! Look see here; that- that one says shorter- no, wait, is that water?" Max doubled over on the sofa; groaning in exasperation and agitation as she heard that not even Alec could decipher it; it truly was a lost cause. She gloomily took back the piece of paper from Alec and stuffed it miserably in her jacket pocket, succumbing to the very few and very unrewarding allurements of TV, which was, at the moment, currently blaring out 'WEEZER- keep fishing' featuring The Muppets. Alec started humming the words quietly whilst sketching a golden kangaroo wearing a stripy sock on its' ear on an A5-sized, ocean blue, lined notepad, whilst Max hugged a emerald green and Christmas cracker red tasselled pillow to her chest as she tapped the beat with her foot and giggled as the base player was attacked by Ms. Piggy. As the song went back to the chorus Max jumped to her feet and started twirling around, waving her arms in the air, swaying her hips to the beat and kicking her legs out; it was the strangest, but nonetheless the best dance he'd ever seen performed; and it was live too! He threw back a laugh and stood up to join her using his 2B graphical pencil as his microphone, as he mouthed the song to her whilst they danced ridiculously around the furniture. To the relief of both of them this spontaneous outburst of musical appreciation cleared all the awkwardness, stress and boredom out of the air.

Turning up the volume on the TV and dancing even more manically, Max clamoured cheerily over the racket, havoc and mayhem that had befallen the flat,

"Want some toasted cheese sandwiches, Alec?"

"Err- I don't have a sandwich toaster,"

"S'ok I know how to make 'em with toasters; please tell me you've got one of THOSE?" After pirouetting around the sofa, Alec took the time to musically mosh a nod at Max whilst keeping in time with the song's rhythm. A highly amused Max chortled as she witnessed this and soon found a mint-green, plastic toaster squatting on the counter in the corner of the kitchen next to a thick black framed window; so she set to work, and, much to Alec's astonishment, produced the cheesiest, tastiest, most sumptuous, most marvellous toasted cheese sandwiches he'd ever had the pleasure of chomping on EVER! Made to sweet perfection and personalised with a big 'Lee and Perkins HP sauce' 'A' (obviously for Alec!). Alec smiled affectionately at Max as she handed him the platter of niceness and carelessly plucked her own sandwiches from the toaster the second they were tossed up into the air with the force of the tense metal spring; the key to the ingenious invention that was the toaster.

"Well Max, this creation of yours looks the part but now comes the REAL question; does it, or does it not, taste like crap?" Max raised a genetically modified eyebrow at that; her hands on her hips mimicking her usual furious disapproval of him. She said silkily,

"If that sandwich tastes like crap you keep your TV, if not…" Max beamed at him with impish naughtiness in her smile and in her eyes as she outlined the TV frame with her fingers in the air and Alec, although this new challenge secretly made him extremely flustered and hesitant; kept his collected, self-assured stance in front of Max; after all, he always rose to challenge a challenge. As Max stood watching him with growing anticipation, he raised an eyebrow and, looking from Max to the sandwich, chawed, champed, gnawed and grinded away a humungous chunk of cheesy goodness and couldn't help but grin stupidly as he tossed and turned the matter over with his tongue which was in raptures; his taste buds fizzing with delight and bubbling with the glee and mirth of the mouth-watering food being slowly digested and made last.

"So?"

"Eh- I may have to, well you know, I'll just try a bit more- you can never be too sure with these things-" Max sniggered and smirked, shaking her head in further disapproval and promptly introducing his face to a pillow; unfortunately knocking the holy sandwich out of his quaking hands and onto the thick mossy green floor stained with various different substances, most of which were previous takeaways, candy bars and ketchup. _And he still manages to stay in shape! _Max thought to herself in her head when she noticed these evidential markings. This event was a bombshell on Alec who dived for the sandwich in a desperate attempt to save, preserve and savour it's wonderment but tripped on the pillow on the way there.

"NOOOooooooooo!" he cried and fell to his knees at the 'grave' of his greatest friend.

"Why?" He whispered in a dramatically sorrowful way whilst Max cackled insanely in the background. He smiled secretly to himself and slowly turned around to face Max, telling her in a quiet, menacing rage,

"You're going down." Max looked anxious and aghast with an uncertain suspense of overwhelming sanctity and contentment. It was the feeling she always got when she was here, with him. Being with Alec was always a blast and she always seemed to forget all her problems when she was around him. He seized two gigantic pillows and hurled them at Max. She dodged the first but unfortunately she couldn't avoid the second and was soon taken off guard by a feathery thwack in the stomach.

"Ooof! That's it! You really shouldn't have done that!" Max grappled a nearby cushion and catapulted it towards Alec with full force; at the same time as Alec snatched up the duvet that he'd left on the sofa the day before last and cast it like a fishing-net into the air…

Thus, battle commenced…

"So you'll do it?" Logan inquired, concern and anxiety greatly emphasized and amplified in his voice, wringing his hands nervously in a fidgety way and typing furiously on the keyboard. Phil shrugged, his brow creasing,

"Hmmm, on second thoughts I- err- I'm sort of doing something on Friday." Logan gave Phil a distraught, discontented, angst look and immediately ceased to tap the keys over-dramatically. He shook his head disapprovingly,

"Phil, you could be making a difference in the world! What could possibly be more important than THAT?" Phil felt a small pang of guilt ripple through him as he heard the disillusioned, discouraged tones of Logan's reproach. He shuffled his feet nervously,

"Well, honestly, I've got a date-"Logan (who was secretly glowing green with envy) made a scoffing noise, scowled at Phil and said with bitter coldness,

"That's it?"

"Well- it's with my wife, Clara, we always go out on Fridays; it's sort of our- special day. We met on a Friday see?"

"So that's it. You're just going to walk away? You're not going to take this one opportunity to do something good for the world? For Seattle? For Eyes Only? Just because of a girl? Come on Phil, I'm sure she can live without you for ONE day!"

Phil frowned, he didn't like the way Logan was talking about Clara; she wasn't just 'a girl'. But he wanted to do his part, he wanted to help out; after all, Logan was a good friend of his, and he did help him with the hover-drone case, _or was it the other way around?... _Phil timidly inquired,

"Are you sure she won't be mad at me? What if- What if she has the baby when I'm gone? I want to do the right thing; do you really think this is a good idea?" Logan rolled his eyes and answered him in an exasperated voice,

"Of course; so are you going to do it or not?" Phil paused, leaving Logan in temporary anticipation of a reply,

"…I'll do it,"

Logan sighed with relief and began to frantically tap on his keyboard like a mad-man again.

"Thanks Phil, you won't regret it, I'll just download the layout of the building, and I'll make sure all the exits are clear if you need to get out of there ASAP. I don't know what I'd do without you!" Phil sighed heavily as he gazed intently at the small, thin white framed photo of Clara that he kept in his wallet…and then it was April again, Wednesday again, and Clara was running in the rain with a stripy pink umbrella acting as a roof and providing shelter for her during the icy showers that had dominated the first chapters of spring, singing a sonorously sweet song improvised on the spot to suit the occasion and flicking droplets of water at the camera Phil was holding…_Oh Clara, what am I doing?..._


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: It's not mine!  
A/N: Sorry that I haven't written in so long! I decided this summer would be a good time to get back to work on the Phil arc (because Phil is GENIUS!) Although unfortunately there is no Phil in _this_ chapter, he is certainly in the next! So here it is! My writing style's changed a little since my last chapter due to the delay, but I hope that won't drastically affect the story's consistency!! Sorry again for leaving it so late. 'Hope you enjoy it!

_**Phil**_**osophy!  
** CHAPTER 5: Vicious cycle

Max woke up to the last lazy orange-tinted sun streaks pouring through the blinds as the sun slipped down out of the dull smoggy sky. She took in her surroundings. Alec's flat was in a half-gloom state, with the fingertips of darkening shadows creeping across the room's floor, lingering in the wake of dusk. The room would've looked a lot brighter had the drab and sagging furniture not been somehow sucking in all the light from outside like household black holes.

"You ever heard of the word 'IKEA' Alec?" Max muttered as part of the sofa came off in her hand. She shook her head and smiled before gently ruffling Alec's hair, pulling the duvet over him and switching off the TV. She jammed the dirty plates from earlier into the washing machine then returned to Alec.

He stirred in his sleep. _Technically you told him_, she thought to herself, _it's just he wasn't conscious at the time that's all, who knows maybe he did hear you!_ But she knew he didn't.

After an exhausting but nonetheless fantastically matched battle, they had both curled up on the sofa and stared at the TV without ANY of the images or information registering in their minds.

"Alec,"

"Uhmmm?" He'd mumbled in response.

"I've got something to tell you…"

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"It's-… nothing; never mind. You look tired; I'll tell you later."

"No, I insist, what is it, Maxie?" She hesitated and said quietly,

"Alright…" Taking a deep breath she'd told him everything and when she'd finished there was silence.

"Alec? ALEC?" But he'd already been fast asleep.

She'd always reminded herself- whenever she'd attempted to tell him- that there was a chance he'd reject her, or worse, laugh at her and shrug it off like it meant nothing. In addition to that, in the time they'd known each other, before these past 2 weeks, it wasn't like she'd given him any reason to like her all that much; she'd always treated him like the last thing she wanted to see on the bottom of her shoe. That personal reminder had usually smothered any courage she might've mustered up to say what she needed to. But now, things were different. They'd been going so well, the thought no longer even came to mind; instead she'd started wishing that he'd been awake, at least for when she'd said the big 3 word summary.

Without realising, she sank down in her seat and began to watch as Alec slept peacefully; breathing in and out regularly, a small smile curling one side of his lips. The whole thing felt so…safe. _Isn't there something YOU have to do today Max?_ She beamed at Alec and mentally ticked off all the things she'd done successfully today. _Nope...! Are you sure about that?_ Max pondered hard and then it hit her. _Oh Nooooo! Reservations with Logan at the Tasty Bisscen at 6:30! Nooooooo! _She swore under her breath as she caught sight of the time; 6:29. Gathering up her belongings, she awkwardly kissed Alec on the corner of his forehead and scuttled out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her and causing Alec to wake suddenly.

"Gah! Urb ulgh!" Alec mumbled in confusion for half a minute before searching the apartment desperately for Max. He discovered her handbag half protruding from the jaws of his sofa. He tugged it out and, being Alec, immediately peaked inside, satisfying his own curiosity. _If I'm going to give this back to her I've got to know where she's going. I'm just looking for clues! It's perfectly innocent…ooooooh! I wonder if she keeps a diary…_There were the deteriorating virus papers, curled up pitifully in the corner of the bag, her sector pass, a cracked black biro, a very dated silver flip phone and a small strip of paper that read,

_'The Tasty Bisscen, booked table for two, ticket number 16, booked time: 6:30, a lifetime devoted to food.'  
_  
_What a waste of a lifetime,_ Alec thought_, I gotta get this to Max before something BAD happens. Where the heck is this place anyway?_ He carefully examined the flimsy ticket and soon found, written on the back in Max's handwriting, the words, _'Sector 8, Samsten Street, has a picture of strangled fish on signpost."_ Alec chuckled and clumsily made his way out of his apartment block and around the side of the building to where he had parked his bike; only to find that it had gone! He discovered a crinkled note tacked on a nearby wall explaining to Alec that Max had taken up his offer to borrow his bike. He groaned and reluctantly searched the area for some mode of transport he could 'borrow' for a while. To his dismay, the only things he managed to find nearby were a pink tricycle and a punctured monster truck wheel; and he certainly wasn't going anywhere on either. So he grudgingly started his journey on foot and typically, it started to rain…

"Logan, there you are!" Max tittered hesitantly as she cantered over to Logan. She glanced at her watch hoping that she was fashionably late at the least but, alas, 7:02 meant that she probably did deserve the livid looks she was now getting. Logan regarded her coldly. Scrutinizing her attire, he muttered with very evident bitterness,

"I see you took the time to get dressed for the occasion." She looked away from him.

"Logan, I just- well- I forgot," Logan snorted,

"Oh sure, just like you did on Thursday; kinda convenient memory loss problem you got there, huh Max?"

"Hey, I already apologised for that, and it wasn't even my fault; Normal had us doing double shifts all-"

"Don't give me that Max. You're genetically engineered! You could've got it done ten times as fast as anyone and still had time to floss. If you don't want to go somewhere with me then just say it, but don't leave me waiting around-"

"Look Logan I'm sorry about turning up late, but it'd be real nice if you didn't broadcast that kinda thing to the whole world!"

They glowered at each other and ended up waiting for a table at the entrance in contemptuous silence. On arrival the waiter sneered at Max's attire- which was something she hated about going to these kinds of high-end places; all the people there immediately judged you on what you wore, your pronunciation and enunciation, your money; your job; your connections; your social status; and any investments you might've made from what sparse scraps of a stock market Seattle could salvage from the pulse- nothing personal, nothing _real_- and they didn't even attempt to be subtle about it. Well, maybe that wasn't fair. They weren't _all_ like that; the jackass waiter, maybe, but not all of them. And when they'd first met, Logan hadn't been like that, had he? He'd tried hard to find her and to meet her again, despite the fact that when she'd broken into his penthouse, she'd broken most of the east-facing windows, incapacitated his bodyguard and then attempted to swipe his Egyptian cat statue amongst other priceless valuables. Most people would be glad never to see their neighbourhood cat burglar again. _But did he set his mind on me before or after he witnessed my 'unusual abilities'?_ Max refused to think long on the idea…

The waiter finally found a table for two in the middle of the crowded restaurant and reluctantly led the way for them. The bitter twosome sat down simultaneously and ordered their dishes from another tall dark waiter with a notepad. After he departed with an embellished bow, and collected up the mauve-coloured menus, Max leaned over the table and whispered,

"Look Logan. I really am sorry about being late tonight, but I've actually got to get back pretty soon." Logan's gaze snapped up in alarm. He slowly started to scowl. He opened his mouth to rebuke her, but she continued,

"I want this to be our last dinner together; I don't think-"

He sat up, "Max! Not this again!"

"Logan!" She said sharply. He quietened but was still poised in his seat. She sighed. Talk to them, Phil had said...

"I've been thinking a lot about…'us' recently and…well, the virus isn't the only problem. What you said before was right- I have been pushing you away and of course it was to protect you. But I started wondering if maybe it wasn't also because I couldn't handle being in such a complicated and potentially fatal relationship with you. But it wasn't…" She paused and met his eyes.

"I really did… like you Logan-"

"Did?" Max sighed. She was finding this experience very forced. She never usually talked like this with anyone but Original Cindy. Now she felt out of character, relaying all her inner thoughts and feelings directly to him, exposing her own vulnerabilities and weaknesses. It betrayed all her instincts.

"You're main focus is always your work Logan, and on doing the right thing. And I… I loved you for it. I wanted to help you out with it, I still do-"

"Not really a possibility when you're never around," Logan scoffed.

"I don't always have time for just you, Logan. I've got issues of my own to deal with too- especially now with all that's going on at Terminal city, and our good friend Aimes stirring up all the bad press on us transgenics… And anyway you were Eyes Only before I came along, right?"

"Now who's telling the whole world, huh?"

"Too many secret identities; looks like we'll have to go back to communicating in Morse code with our tablespoons tonight, Deep Throat." Logan smiled for the first time that evening and finally relaxed into his chair.

"How can you want this to end?" Max smiled mirthlessly.

"Logan, a joke isn't the pinnacle of romantic gestures; it's just something between friends, which is what I want us to be- and there are lots of reasons for that. You don't trust me Logan, you never really did."

"What? Oh Max…if this is about the other night- I was drunk!" Logan exclaimed rather too loudly for their present location and its company. Many heads turned in their direction. He smiled nervously to appease them.

"Not just then Logan. You've withheld information from me more than once, and more than once about things that were everything to do with me- my brothers and sisters, Lydecker, Manticore. I'd go off on my own and I'd tell you, not to follow me, not to contact me but you wouldn't listen; you wouldn't keep away-"

"I can't help worrying over someone I care about!"

"I'm a big girl Logan, I can look after myself."

"Better than most, yes, but you still have your fair share of trouble; if I hadn't come to find you and help you most of those times, you wouldn't be-"

"I know! And I'm grateful. But it was _every_ time, Logan. One of those times, you even went to Lydecker before you went to me, in case you'd forgotten! And, that night when you thought Alec and I…that just shows that you still don't trust me- whether it's about relationships or missions- even after all this time we've known each other."

"Max," Logan slipped his hand into his jacket and fished out a pair of cotton-lined, black leather gloves. He selected the left-hand glove, pulled it on and took her hand in his. She hung her head despondently; _all this just to hold hands?_ He spoke softly,

"Y'know what I think? I think you're bringing up all this stuff to make this break-up easier to do, when you know deep down you've already forgiven for all those things. When you gave us a second chance, didn't it mean we were starting again, slates wiped clean? I won't lie to you again- and I'll trust you- I promise." This was exactly what she'd been dreading; a few gentle words, a sentimental gesture that might remind her of their past; momentarily rekindle that flame; sway her away from her motives; keep her thinking she was in love with both men and not letting her love either without fear of the other being hurt. _NO_, Max raised her head, _this ends now._

"Sorry Logan, but there's another reason why."

"And what's that?"

"I…I'm in love with someone else."

"What?! Who?!" _The name, just say the name._

"It's…-" Max caught sight of someone standing in the rain outside, who'd obviously been watching them for some time…

"Alec…"

"Alec, wait!" Max abruptly brushed aside Logan's hand and scrambled out of the restaurant. She'd expected to have to chase after him; but instead she found Alec standing in the same spot, clothes sullied by the damp and saturated by the dewy, sickly scent of Seattle rainwater, his expression unreadable. She approached him,

"Alec, I…this isn't-" Alec took her hand in his, all the while gazing intensely into her eyes, crumpled the note he'd been carrying and closed her hand around it,

"Enjoy your meal, Max." And then he walked away…


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: It's not mine  
A/N: Phil returns! YAY. Thanks so much for your reviews. Additional thanks to my sis Jess, who's also a DA fanfiction writer (called DirtyLaundry) for she is one of my best inspirations! 'Tis a rather hectic chapter! Perhaps a little shorter than usual?

_**Phil**_**osophy!  
** CHAPTER 6: MIA? KIA? OK?

After cancelling their order and requesting the bill for his drink, Logan decided to take advantage of Max's sudden absence and check his pager. Still nothing. _What's taking him so long? _Logan worried his bottom lip with his teeth. _Phil should've called by now…_

_1 hour earlier…_

He stalked towards a mat grey monolith-like office building, rain blending its edges into the night sky, electronic hisses and swishes and servo-motor chirps accompanying his every footfall. Effortlessly jumping the 10 foot fence that lined the property's perimeter, Phil couldn't help feeling that little bit of satisfaction from being back on the job. Sure he'd been sniffing out scandals and pursuing the odd promising lead back home but nothing as upfront and risky as this! Bagging files on corrupt sector cops and judges and profiles on snake-god breeding cult members responsible for some rather dubious backroom entourage via infiltration of prestigious positions in the legal system for some ultimately apocalyptic purposes (one of his more singular assignments but nonetheless _awesome_) and working for **Eyes Only** nonetheless! What more could he want!? Back to making a difference, changing the world. He could make Francesca really proud with something like this. And Clara too.

Clara. Something twisted in his stomach as he remembered how he'd stood her up tonight.

_Standing up my pregnant wife…_ _is this really the right thing to do?_ He shook his head, "Destiny makes no exceptions, Phil. Let's do this."

Creeping around the side of the building, he leapt upwards and latched onto a fire escape ladder pinned to the outside of one of the third floor windows. The ladder rattled irritably. Suddenly, it rasped downwards on its supporting rails. Phil threw an arm out to grapple onto the window ledge. He gingerly repositioned his feet on a few of the higher rungs. He paused a moment. The noise may have alerted the guards. He clung to the wall and waited. A sector bus lumbered by. Silence followed. He sighed and fished out the Slim Jim from his trench coat pocket, setting to work on the window.

Once inside the building's adumbral innards, he weaved through a disarray of basic tables, fold up chairs and pungent coffee cups to reach an open door at the end of a rectangular room. He exited into a hallway with an elevator at its focal point and moved silently down the flight of stairs at its end. After stealthily investigating several of the junctions that sprouted off of the new corridor Phil faced, identical to the one above, Phil found the storage room. Leaning close to the door, he carefully shifted his weight onto the steel handle and swung the door inward. It swung only a little before banging into the first of a series of tall cabinets and mangled cardboard boxes brimming with detailed files and dossiers. The noise had been conspicuous enough. Yet still no-one responded. Logan had said there would be a skeleton security unit of eight men patrolling the building tonight. By luck, had they not heard it? By coincidence, had no one been around? Phil was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

Nonetheless, he climbed through the door space available to him-discovering the room to be much larger on the inside than it had appeared from the outside. He extracted the reference list Logan had given him from his coat pocket and recalled what he'd said at the briefing as he thumbed through the contents of each cabinet in order…

"Deputy Georges Milan partnered up with an old college buddy who's now one of the high-ups in the judiciary-" Logan pulled up a headshot of a man with a deeply furrowed, sagging brow and an unnaturally jagged jaw line.

"Judge Samsten Hayes about a year or 2 after the Pulse of '09; both wanting to make damn sure they get out of the depression without a hitch and both willing to get their hands dirty. So they start arresting the few people who've still got money left after the pulse, trumping up charges about the money being laundered, bank scandals, failed loan repayments, fraud, counterfeit, you name it. But of course they're found guilty every time because who gets assigned their case but good old Judge Hayes. The two of them then swoop in and claim the money for themselves and no one's the wiser. What's worse is that when rumours spread about all that was going on, not one of the higher ups tries to stop it. Some Politicians even wanted in on the scandal- recruiting Milan and Hayes to take out some of the smaller opposing political parties with the same methods. 'Two of them have been putting innocent men behind bars for years but that all stops now." Logan's eyes lit up as he sat forward in his chair,

"I got a tip off from a source that these guys messed up the cover-up on a couple of their operations. There's enough written evidence in that building to send the two of them to jail on life sentences for abuses of the legal system. 'We make this evidence public; the authorities will have no choice but to follow up with an investigation. If you can get me files on the Billy Andrews case of '11 and the Kathy Gifferd November elections scandal of the year before last then we could really make a difference. What do you say? Opportunity of a lifetime here, Phil. Chance to do the world some good…"

The second-and much more interesting part of the mission for Phil- had been to retrieve the listed aliases and fabricated personnel files of suspected Familiars. Logan had recruited him to search for two in particular, a Senator J. McKinley and a Mr. Aimes White.

Finally locating the relevant files, Phil peaked inside the first folder. An austere, pale-faced man with very pronounced cheek-bones stared out from the photograph in the top right-hand corner of the first page. Phil's eyes wandered down the page. He frowned.

"No way is this guy 22."

"Well, nobody likes to give their real age, do they?" Phil quickly turned to face the door. Through the gap, Phil could see three men- two of which he recognised from the files in front of him.

"Uh oh."

"You were right, Aimes. Eyes Only went straight for the bait."

"And it looks like he's been using the transgenics to do his dirty work."

"'Transgenic'? No, no, I don't know what you're talking about." Phil frantically searched the room for an alternative exit. He spotted a small window screened by a metal grate on his left.

"Don't play dumb. How else could you possibly have jumped that fence?"

"Oh there could be LOTS of other explanations for _that_," Phil tore off the grate and smashed his hand through the glass pane.

"Looks like he's trying to get away. You wanna do the honours?" The third Familiar stepped forward, put both hands to the door and hauled it off of its hinges. Phil began to clamber out of the window. The Familiars made their way towards him. The third dragged Phil away from the window. Phil stood. Drawing back his empowered leg with a mechanical hiss, he kicked the third Familiar full force in the chest. He slammed into the wall behind him. Phil cried out as White dealt a sharp blow to his knee, dislocating it with a sickening crack. He banged his head on a cabinet as he slumped onto the floor.

"Transgenic scum." As Phil steadily lost consciousness he strained to hear the Familiar's conversation.

"Where should we interrogate him?"

"I see no reason why we should take … back to the Conclave. This … is deserted tonight, correct? Find… suitable room, broth…"

"At once."

The elevator bell rang sweetly as its bulky doors shuddered apart.

"This better be good, Logan." Max announced as she marched into the living area of the penthouse. Logan rose out of his chair and Alec turned away from the muggy cityscape that the apartment's ceiling to floor windows afforded tonight. Her steps slowed to a halt.

"Oh…hey." She stood awkwardly in the middle of the room. Alec glanced upwards at her briefly.

"I said we got it, Logan. Why'd you have to call her here? Aren't two genetically-engineered killing machines enough?" Max frowned.

"Two…?"

"Hey, little fella." Joshua appeared from the kitchen with a greasy bag of cashew nuts in one hand. She sighed; _Joshua's here too. At least things won't be completely awkward. _She hugged him tightly round the waist.

"Hey, big fella."

"We've got a problem." She turned to address a very sombre-looking Logan. "Shoot."

"I think Phil's in trouble. He said he'd call me back to confirm that everything had gone OK, but it's been too long since-"

"Wait, what's supposed to have gone OK? Where's Phil?" Logan took a deep breath and locked eyes with Max,

"I got a lead on the location of some very important files-" Max immediately started to shake her head, turning her back on Logan and pacing the room distractedly. He'd kept something from her again, in spite of his promise. He continued regardless of her motions,

"-files that will help us take down two major bad guys and- very possibly- our good friend Aimes White." Max paced faster. Logan snapped in response,

"Hey, I would've asked for _your _help getting them, but- big surprise-you weren't around. You were going through one of your 'little phases' and you'd conveniently decided to ignore me all week long-"

"Oh for the love of- look, if I knew you called me here just to bear witness to one of your little couple's tiffs I wouldn't have come." Logan shot Alec a look and continued,

"I needed to get things done. You weren't around; Phil was- simple as that." Max frowned.She thought their talk over dinner about an hour before had gone pretty well. They'd talked things through; they'd tied up all their loose ends. So why was he being such a jerk all of a sudden? Did it really have to be a romantic relationship or nothing with him?

"I get the point, Logan, so where the hell is he?" He sighed.

"District 6, 205th South Marsha Street; it's a covertly run federal building masquerading as your run-of-the-mill office block. But… considering the stuff he was investigating… worst case scenario is White and his familiars have their hands on him. I'm sorry, Max." Max stood very still, then shook her head,

"It's gonna take a lot more than an apology to make things right this time, Logan."

"Excuse me?" She raised her head,

"You shouldn't have done it. You shouldn't have dragged Phil into something that was nothing to do with him. You knew he couldn't say no to a friend, but you asked him to do it anyway, didn't you? You should've called in a group of us to do the job instead of leaving it 'til now to call us in for the rescue mission-"

"Hey, I did this as a favour to you! If things had gone the way they were supposed to, White wouldn't have been a problem for you anymore!"

"I sure as hell would _never_ have wanted White off my back if it meant the expense of a friend!"

"Like I said, you weren't around-"

"Then wait for me to show up!"

"You expect me to wait around for you, Max?"

"As opposed to going behind my back and manipulating people? Yeah!"

Alec interjected, "O--k, I'm out of here. Joshua, buddy, 'you coming?" Joshua shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"Alec, no. Phil needs help." Alec nodded.

"You're absolutely right, Joshua. Hey, I hate to break up a happy couple when I see one, but me and Joshua are heading out to go rescue Phil. Now if either of you two star-crossed lovers wants to help out, then be my guest, but don't waste everybody's time pointing fingers all night, okay?" Max stopped and met Alec's eyes. Of course. He was right; arguing like this was pointless and stupid and wasting precious time that could be spent finding Phil. She'd let her emotions get the better of her. She wouldn't let them do it again. She needed to regroup.

"You're right. Let's move out." The transgenic trio moved towards the door. Alec pushed towards the front.

"Finally."

"Max wait-"

"We'll finish this later, Logan. Phil needs our help right now." _If he's still alive…_


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Dark Angel is not mine  
A/N: I'm sorry I haven't written in a while! After summer last year, I started doing my A-levels and that was a lot more work than I thought it'd be. I'm aiming to finish PHILosophy this summer. It only has two more chapters to go. Enjoy! Also bear in mind, this all happened before the episode, "Dawg Day Afternoon", "She Ain't Heavy" and the others that followed.

_**Phil**_**osophy!  
** CHAPTER 8: The Nightshift

"'Doesn't make any sense; Logan said there'd be at least eight guys on patrol tonight. We've already covered 3 floors and not one of them had any kind of security coverage." They cautiously stalked through the same 2rd floor hall Phil had only an hour before. Shadows traipsed across their faces as they passed through the thick, milky moonlight pooling in from intermittent windows. Joshua's nose twitched feverishly as he sniffed the air.

"Maybe they went home, Little Fella." Max peaked into one of the doors on her left.

"No. 'Shifts still don't end for a good couple hours." She eased it shut and moved onto the next one. Alec wrenched open another door,

"He was wearing Logan's exoskeleton, right? You don't think maybe he took them out?"

"I don't think so." Alec continued past the lift. Something caught his eye down the hall on the other side.

"Hey Max, I think you better take a look at this." There in front of him was a thick metal door lying uselessly on the floor next to the entrance to a storage area. Max edged closer to inspect the doorway. The doorframe was twisted horribly out of shape.

"'Looks like it was torn off its hinges." A sporadic trail of glass shards led inside.

"You think Logan was right when he said Familiars might've gotten to him?" Max kept silent. She advanced into the room. There she found the results of Phil's attempted escape; a broken window, a dented wall and blood on the corner of a filing cabinet. Alec shuffled up behind her. He caught sight of the blood.

"Looks like someone's been here." Max continued to survey the room.

"'Blood looks pretty fresh. Recent." Max still didn't answer. Alec sighed.

"Max-"

"We're going to keep going. We've still got two more floors to cover, not to mention the roof. Everyone keep your eyes and your ears open." She started to make her way out of the room. Bending his head, Joshua levelled his nose with the blood. He patted the stain with one huge, hairy hand, and gingerly snuffled at his fingertips.

"Come on, Joshua, let's go." Joshua stepped out into the hallway and wandered a little way down the hall before coming to a stop. Tilting his head to one side, he keenly sniffed the air.

"Joshua?" Max moved to stand beside him. "You got something, Big Fella?"

"...more blood," Joshua pointed towards the stairwell at the end of the hallway, "that way." Max eyed the stairs; with no windows at the hallway's end, a column of ebony shadow monopolized almost every step.

"Come on." They crept to the end of the corridor, and then silently made their way down. At the bottom, they were met with yet another gloom-gripped, empty hallway. Turning to Joshua, Max inquired softly,

"Where now?"

"Downstairs again." Alec whispered, crouching down on the floor and gesturing at a bloodstain on the edge of the top stair with a flow pattern that suggested downward movement. Max nodded and they started to make their way down the second flight of stairs. A muffled cry erupted from the floor below. They stopped where they were- halfway down the stairwell. They heard low voices. Then a contemptuous laugh and a loud jeer. Then a hard thud. Another laugh.

Max, Alec and Joshua hurried down the stairs and into the final, basement hallway. It was barely lit by only two lights, the second flickering timorously. They passed two doors either side of them, stopping when they reached the third and leant against the wall either side of it. Another thud sounded. Max put her hand to the door handle, but Alec pulled on her shoulder. She turned to face him and Joshua, paused a moment then signed out a plan of action.

Alec leapt up the side of the corridor and clung onto the ceiling, pushing his back up against it. Joshua entered the room opposite while Max climbed up the wall and onto the ceiling of the hallway, next to the second light. Using one hand and their legs to keep themselves in place on the ceiling, Max and Alec simultaneously grabbed hold of the lights nearest to them, and with violent tugs, ripped them out of their places in the ceiling and smashed them on the floor, immediately plunging the corridor into complete darkness. A sudden silence settled in the room where the voices had come from. Everything was still.

"…what the hell was that?"

"Quiet!"

Some footsteps were heard from inside. Then silence.

"Aimes. Tinley." Then came the quiet click of a lock. Max caught the gleam of the doorhandle as it gradually bent downwards. The door swung open drowsily, allowing the light from inside to trickle out into the hallway like a fine powder. There was a groan from inside and two familiars stepped out into the hall. With only one half of his face lit by the interrogation room's light, White's head bobbed in mid-air through the darkness like a crescent moon on a child's mobile. Max didn't recognize the other familiar. White gestured airily at him to tell him to check one end of the corridor whilst he stepped forward towards the other. Silky shadows enveloped the two figures possessively. White took two paces. Then another pace. Then anoth-

"CRACK!"

White slowly lifted his shoe and stepped backwards. He squinted into the darkness. He kneeled down beside the large glass shards. Max forcefully threw herself down from the ceiling, slamming hard into White. He cried out, stunned, alerting the other familiar. The two fell to the floor together. Max rolled away, leapt up and delivered a sharp kick to White's body.

Brother Tinley turned to move to White's aid. Gripping the ceiling with both hands, Alec swung his legs down and struck the familiar in the back of the head. He staggered forwards then spun round to face Alec.

White rose to his feet slowly. He blocked the two punches Max threw at his head and chest. Max kicked out and caught the top part of White's leg. She kicked out again, only to have White catch her foot in his hands. He twisted it sharply sending Max spinning to the ground. He quickly grabbed hold of Max's foot once more.

"Now, I wonder who this could be." He dragged Max backwards into the light with one violent jerk. White grimaced smugly.

"452." Max kicked upwards with her other leg and clipped White's chin. She bounced back onto her feet and raised her fists.

The Senator appeared at the door behind White and stepped forward to join him. He assumed a Familiar fighting stance, with one arm bent and drawn back behind his head and the other arm stretching out in front, his hands mimicking claw shapes.

"Transgenic filth," he spat, "I shouldn't have to dirty my hands with your inferior blood."

A metal door pinged loudly off of its hinges and slammed into the Senator's profile, as Joshua bulldozed into the corridor with a roar. The Senator was flung against the wall like a rag doll. Joshua dropped the door and seized him by the collar. He howled and snarled as he threw him across the hall.

Meanwhile, Alec ducked under Brother Tinley's lefty swing and threw a clenched fist upwards into his gut. Barely stunned, Tinley brought down an iron, hammer fist into the centre of Alec's back. Joshua grappled Tinley's shoulders and shoved him into the corridor wall. The familiar sunk to his knees just as Senator McKinley got to his feet.

"Thanks, buddy." Alec headed past Joshua into the interrogation room.

And sat in the centre of the room was Phil. Alec halted at the sight of him. He was strapped to a cold, black, skeletal chair with a slap of metal for the seat and four iron bars for the legs. One of Phil's legs hung limp beside the front chair leg, bending inward slightly at the knee. Phil was slumped forward. He squinted up at Alec through a bloated black eye. A trickle of blood ran down from the corner of his mouth and bruises covered his face like muddy, dirty coloured flowers blooming underneath his skin.

"Hey there." He coughed.

"Hey. Phil, right?" Alec moved round the back of the chair and tore away some stubborn, duck-tape bonds. Phil went to stand but fell forwards. He groaned.

"Ooh. Not good."

"C'mon" Alec threaded his arm under Phil's and around his back, steering him out of the room. Joshua suddenly stumbled backwards into the doorway, almost toppling the pair. The Senator advanced and threw a punch at Joshua's side. Joshua side-stepped, caught the Senator around the waist and hurled him forwards. He crashed into Brother Tinley on the floor.

"Joshua, take Phil out of the building. Me and Max'll finish up here." Joshua nodded and fireman-lifted Phil.

"Woah." He unabashedly gawked at Joshua's appearance in awe, "Interesting." Joshua stepped passed the familiars on the hall-floor and carried Phil up the stairs.

Alec glanced over at Max. White currently had her pinned against the wall and was drawing his hand behind his head to backhand slap her. Alec seized his raised hand and swung him around, throwing him against the opposite wall. Some plaster crumpled off of the wall as White straightened up and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. The Senator came to stand beside White, assuming his original stance.

"494, how nice of you to join us. The two of you seem to pair up for these things quite a bit, don't you? Is there something I should know?" White displayed a toothy, shark-like grin.

"You really do love the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Max raised her fists.

"What, was Eyes Only low on foot-soldiers? 'Had to send in a nut-job with a special pair of pants to do the job?" The Senator smirked wickedly and added,

"It made for quite an interesting...'interview', when we discovered he was making buzzing noises every time we- how should I say it? – demanded an answer from him a little more 'persuasively'."

"You sick son of bitch." Alec caught sight of the Senator's face in the light.

"Senator James McKinley? Sheesh, anybody could be one of them." The Senator smiled.

"Well you know what they say- "Never trust a politician." Max suddenly addressed Alec.

"Alec, find Joshua and get out of here. Get Phil checked into a hospital. I'll deal with this." The Senator and Alec scoffed simultaneously. Alec shook his head and raised his fists in preparation for the fight.

"Play the hero on somebody else's watch, Max. There's enough familiars to go around." Max opened her mouth to argue but then nodded resignedly. And the fight commenced…

A/N: Lot of fighting in this chapter! Hope it didn't get tedious! Oh and also I read back on some of the older chapters and I might do a bit of re-writing. I'll write the last chapter before I do that though.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: Dark Angel is not mine  
A/N: Lasssttt chapteeerr. But gonna go back and do a little bit of re-writing after this I think! What Alec says at the end is an actual Star Wars quote btw!

_Phil_osophy!  
CHAPTER 9: "Episode IV: A New Hope"

It was pitch black and completely silent. A very pleasant, mollifying female voice was echoing all around. Something bleeped, faintly at first, then louder and louder until it began to sound agitated and nagging. The darkness gradually began to lighten. There was a sigh and a movement of paper or sheets. Phil opened his eyes.

He was in a hospital bed (and a hospital gown, he deduced from the fact that his behind was unusually chilly) with his leg in a sling and several patches of bandages wrapped and taped over his face and body. Someone sat with one leg crossed over the other in a chair by the bed, perusing some trashy periodical. He glanced up.

"Oh, you're up." He sat up in his chair, "I'll go get Max. She wanted to see you."

Phil squinted at him then smiled knowingly.

"Ahhh- you again! The famous 'Alec'!" Alec quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm famous?"

"Oh yeah." A mischieveous grin spread slowly across Alec's face. _I'm finally going to find out what Max was telling this guy about me. _He leant forward and inquired suggestively,

"So, what exactly am I famous for?" Phil opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of raised voices engaged in a heated bickering match out in the hall. Alec craned his neck to peer out of the window down the hall at Logan and Max.

"Jeez, there they go." Phil rubbed his chin pensively,

"Wonder why they're fighting." Alec snorted,

"Who knows! Probably why they're always fighting- trust issues, bio-chemically-engineered retroviruses- just your run-of-the-mill relationship problems. And yet she still goes back to the guy." Phil frowned.

"But they're not together."

"'Course they are,"

"Didn't Max go talk to him and break it off?"

"Are you kidding? Max, hasn't got the-" Alec thought back to when he saw Max and Logan together in the restaurant. What exactly had he seen…? _No, she can't have been. They were holding hands and in a fancy restaurant with a bottle of pre-Pulse champagne on the table, eyes practically glued to each other's faces- you're standard romantic appointment with Logan Cale- hell, they may as well have been smooching their faces off in front of a pyramid of ferrero rocher. No. Even if she was going to, she probably didn't go through with it…right?_

"Did anybody happen to phone for me? While I was asleep?" Still in thought, Alec replied inanely,

"Some girl- Cara, I think her name was?"

"Clara."

"That's it. She was asking where you were last night." Phil groaned and hung his head.

"I told her you were at the hospital." Phil wrinkled his nose,

"Did she sound mad?" Alec briefly considered the question, tilting his head from side to side.

"As ladies go…yeah, pretty mad."

"Hhho boy," Phil breathed.

"What about putting _yourself_ at risk for once, huh Logan?! Instead letting everybody else do the dirty work?"

"Are you saying you'd rather it were me in there, Max?!" Alec and Phil peered briefly in the direction of the exclamation. Phil turned to Alec with an intrigued look on his face.

"So, there's quite a few of your 'kind'- people with 'powers', that is- around Seattle, huh?" Alec tensed.

"'Max tell you I was one of them?" Phil nodded,

"But it was pretty obvious from the way you guys battled last night that you were 'different'-" He embellished the statement with air quote gestures and a maniacal grin, "-in the same way she is. 'Mutant' was the word she used."

"Well technically that's true."

"How'd you end up like that?" Phil leaned forward for more discretion, eyes wide with fascination,

"You guys get caught in some sort of nuclear fallout together? Or were you struck by some sort of cosmic rays?-"

"Well-"

"Or was it gene therapy gone wrong? -gone right rather. Or maybe some sort of underground experiments?"

"That's it- the last one. That's what happened"

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"So… who, uh- you know-?"

"The Government."

"Some sort of Secret agency?"

"Yup."

"Hah! Of course." Phil suddenly reverted to a very serious tone. "I knew it."

"You…haven't been watching the news at all recently have you?" Phil shook his head,

"I've been out and away from this city for over a year now."

"That explains a couple things." Alec relaxed.

"You guys always combine your powers like that?" Alec replied amusedly,

"We have a couple school reunions now and again, when the situation calls for it."

"When the city needs saving."

"More like somebody's ass. Max 'tell you about the guys who roughed you up?"

"Ho yes. I know all about them. A millennia-old breeding cult. With snakes."

"First time you heard that one right?" Phil nodded in admittance.

"I'm not surprised though. This kind of thing happens behind the scenes all the time. This is the least of your worries, believe me. Hehehe, yes, the least of your worries. You just wait 'til you see an inter-dimensional portal, my friend." Alec appeared bemused then immensely entertained.

"Hey." Max entered the room, carefully easing the glass door back into its frame once inside. She had her hair tucked into a black baseball cap and was wearing a large pair of thick-rimmed, dusky Audrey Hepburn sunglasses. She'd also pulled up the collar of her leather jacket around her neck to conceal the fragments of barcode gradually rising to the surface of her skin, like buoys held underwater for too long, following her last laser touch-up. Alec smirked.

"'Going for the Retro Manticore look, Max?" She tipped her shades down to glare at Alec,

"More like if a doctor recognizes me from Harbor Lights, you can kiss your freedom goodbye and say hello to a 24-hour quarantine lock-down and probably a road trip with Aimes White to a nice little government facility where they'll take your brain off your hands. 'Sides, I like it so shutup." She flashed a smile at him then moved to stand beside Phil's bed.

"Hey. How you feeling?" Phil smiled,

"Not bad, given the givens."

"Look, I'm sorry Phil. You shouldn't have got caught up in that. It was supposed to be me in that building, getting those files."

"Ah, I was looking to get back in the business anyway. And, like I said before, can't argue with destiny."

"You can argue with Logan Cale though." Max contradicted quietly.

"Too bad the way it ended up but, well, that's fate."

"It was a set-up. Logan didn't have direct contact with the source that gave him the info for the job this time. The personal details the guy gave don't check out. Now nobody can find him. He might even have been a Familiar himself. And if Familiars are manipulating the informant net…" Max shrugged.

"But at least you guys know those Familiars are onto Eyes Only now, right?" Max nodded.

"Yeah, they know he's looking into them. We'll have to be more careful." '_We', huh?_ Alec watched Max closely.

"Was your wife mad?"

"Somewhat." Max shook her head and folded her arms over her chest as she studied Phil's predicament.

"One visit to see me and Logan and you end up half-dead."

"It was a unique experience." Max half-smiled,

"Glad you're taking this so well."

"I'm an optimist."

She took a seat in the brick and bile chequered tweed easy-chair on the other side of the bed from Alec.

"Too bad the exoskeleton got broken. It's still mostly in tact, but you'll need to do some tinkering with it again."

"Actually Logan doesn't need it anymore. He can walk without it now."

"How'd that happen?" Phil's eyes widened, "Don't tell me you healed him?" Max smirked,

"I don't have those kind of 'powers'. Actually, the guy who carried you the other night, Joshua-"

"Canine Man? He's incredible."

"Hey, his name's Joshua."

"'Canine Man' sounds cooler though." Alec cheerily chipped in,

"More heroic," Phil added pointedly,

"It's Joshua." Max dismissed them both, "Anyway, long story short, Joshua ended up giving Logan a blood transfusion and after that, well, he just got better."

"Wow."

"Yeah, so you could take it back, if you wanted. 'Impress your wife with memorabilia from your former crime-fighting career." Max added with a smile, "And your kid."

"Heh, yeah she'd like that… I hope nothing happened with the baby whilst I was gone."

"When's the due date?"

"It's a couple months yet, but if Clara panicked or something, it could induce an early labour."

"Hmm." There was a brief silence. Phil looked from Alec to Max. Suddenly a secret-smile appeared on Phil's face. Max frowned, looking mildly concerned. Then smiled eventually, in spite of herself.

"So… this is 'the man', huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"The, uh, Han Solo to your Leiah, so to speak?" Max's smile vanished. She looked mortified.

"What?"

"Y'know… the, uh, Moulder to your Scully-" Alec began to smile very widely.

"Oh sheesh, not even the X-files? OK, how bout the Lois Lane to your Clar-"

"Okay I think we get the picture!" Max interjected through grated teeth. A spurt of laughter escaped Alec's lips. Max turned to scowl at him. Alec just beamed at her, looking incredibly self-satisfied. She turned away abruptly and hid under her hat. Phil frowned.

"Did I get the wrong guy? I'm pretty sure you said 'Alec'?"

"I mentioned him, but I didn't say-!"

"OH! Sorry, sorry." Max sighed exasperated and embarrassed. There was another brief silence. Then,

"Y'know, if you think about it, he's more like the Wolverine to your Jean Grey- that would be the best metaphor for it- I mean they were both mutants and plus you got that whole Cyclops thing and Logan wears glasses-"

"Shutup!" Max exclaimed suddenly. The room went silent. She stood up.

"Uhh. Sorry but I- er- I've gotta go talk to Logan about your hospital bill, so, just, uh, get some rest and don't- uh, get out of bed or anything." Max marched out the room. Alec watched her leave grinning from ear to ear. Then burst out laughing once she'd left.

"Thank you," He patted Phil's good leg, "I mean it. That was gold! Solid gold!" Alec got up and slipped out of the door,

"Hey Jean, wait up!" Phil heard him shout down the hallway. Phil winced as he leaned across the bed and caught hold of the copy of "The World Weekly" that was on the edge of an end-table next to a potted dying fern. Alone, He smiled in confidence.

"That was too easy."

Max determinedly strode down the hall, neglecting a puzzled-looking Logan at the nurse's station and swiftly weaving past several white coats and a myriad of wounded patients on open stretchers.

"Come on, Max, wait up!" Alec called after her. Max shook her head stubbornly as she carried on._ Man, that was embarrassing!_ Alec narrowly avoided a skateboarder with crutches.

"Woah. Hey!" He dodged past an elderly lady and caught up with Max. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he turned her around to face him.

"Max-" She turned to go again,

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm sorry!" His abrupt apology startled her. She turned to frown at him. Suspiciously she inquired,

"Why?" He took a breath,

"At the restaurant, I didn't give you a chance to explain…" Alec looked at Max expectantly as her frown disappeared.

"You were breaking up with him, right?" Max nodded,

"I tried to tell you-"

"I know. I had my own ideas." Max folded her arms over her chest.

"Yes. You did."

"So… it's definitely over now?"

"Definitely. I mean, I'm still gonna see him." Alec's eyebrows shot up, immediately looking disapproving.

"'Just to help him with Eyes Only and, well, he's a friend. A moron sometimes. A BIG moron. But still a friend. We've been through a lot together." Alec sighed,

"I guess so." They shared a look. Then he put his hands in his pockets and grinned,

"So, I take it from what Phil said you wanna do this then?" Max looked away, rolling her eyes.

"That wasn't exactly the way I was going to tell you-"

"What are you talking about?! That was great!" Max glowered at him. Alec put his hands up in a placatory gesture,

"Hey, I have no problem with being compared to Harrison Ford and Hugh Jackman!" Max scoffed.

"Look Max, any way you told me would've been great. It's what I wanted." Max raised an eyebrow, and smiled tentatively,

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Alec returned her smile.

He bent his head forward a little towards her and she lifted her head up to kiss him. Max closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his neck. Alec slipped a hand around her waist and onto the small of her back to pull her closer to him. Alec's head shook a little as they kissed. Max pulled away and realised he was laughing.

"What?" Alec shook his head,

"I can't believe you told him I was 'your Han Solo'."

"Hey that was all him!"

"Whateeeever you say, Maxie."

"It was! Can you even imagine me coming out with something like that?"

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to steal Star wars Episode 7 with me when that whole Gossamer thing was going down."

"Wha-?! That was-! That's got nothing to do with it! I don't even watch sci-fi! Hey! HEY! Stop laughing! That's it, pretty boy- I'm going to kick your ass!"

"E-excuse me." Alec and Max turned to see an average-height, heavily pregnant lady with a small, freckled face and whispy white-blonde hair tied in a ponytail waiting patiently to get through.

"Oh sorry." Alec stepped back. Max studied her closely for a moment.

"Are you Clara?"

The woman looked taken aback,

"Uh yes. H-have…we met before?"

"No, I'm a friend of your fiancé's, my name's Max." Max put out her hand. Clara shook it slowly with a sceptical look on her face.

"We worked together back when he was living in Seattle." Clara's frown deepened. She put her hands on her hips,

"And h-how 'close' exactly were you working with Phil?"

"Oh well-"

"They weren't together. In fact, I'm her boyfriend." Alec chipped in. Alec smirked at Max when she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oh I see! I-I'm sorry!" Clara sighed with relief and smiled, "H-how do you do?" Max grinned,

"I'm good. It's nice to finally meet you. Oh and this is Alec." Alec side-glanced Max and stepped forward to shake Clara's hand,

"Hey."

"Hello." Clara smiled, "Well I-I'm anxious to see him- to tell him off if nothing else!" She sighed,

"But, well, I mean- d-do you know why he's here? In hospital?" Max took a breath,

"Well, he was working for someone to get some information and-" Clara goggled at Max expectantly,

"He got caught in a bit of a brawl-"

"Ohhh…" Clara repined and quailed.

"He's gonna be alright." Max reassured her, "It's just a broken leg and some-"

"Ohh!"

Max looked at Alec. He smiled and took over,

"He's in the room at the end of the hall, 9B."

"Thank you. I-it was nice meeting you both." She scurried away. Max watched her go.

"Well…" He smiled, "I guess that's Phil taken care of."

"'Guess so."

"So, how 'bout an actual date now?" Max turned to him and quirked an eyebrow,

"Now, huh?"

"No time like the present." Max grinned.

"Alright. What did you have in mind?"

"A sci-fi movie?" Max slapped the back of his head. Alec smirked,

"Is that a 'no'?" Max rolled her eyes and started walking down the hall.

"I must've been crazy to say 'yes' to this." She muttered. Alec put his hands over his mouth and breathed loudly in the style of Darth Vader,

"'I find your lack of faith disturbing.'"

"Oh for the love of…" Max and Alec turned the corner and left the hospital together...

A/N: 'Hope you enjoyed it! Lots of dialogue. Hope it wasn't a drag. I want to thank my sister Jess who's also a DA fanfiction writer and has encouraged me loads, other fanfiction writers who've read my stuff, commented, inspired and encouraged me and God, who inspires me to write and be creative always!


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